Ten days
by SakuNaruLover
Summary: The rookie genin get ten days of summer vacation. Can Naruto finally convince Sakura to love him? This is an entry for the The Great Heaven & Earth FanficFanart Contest III, Summertime Edition. The keyword is: summer vacation. NaruSaku, SakuNaru
1. Prologue

Hey guys, this is my new story: Ten days. It is a NaruSaku story. This is the story I am writing for 'The Great Heaven & Earth Fanfic/Fanart Contest III, Summertime Edition'. For this contest I have to stick to a keyword. The story needs to revolve around this keyword, so I can't do whatever I want. The keyword I have chosen is:

'**Summer vacation'**

The deadline is somewhere in July, so I will have to update quick, because the story has to be finished by then. So expect quick updates. There will probably be a lot of new NaruSaku stories around this time, because a lot of people are participating in this contest.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto and Sakura would be dating right now.**

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**Prologue**

It was an unusual warm day in the hidden village of Konoha. The village had gone through a lot lately. The people had been feeling sad and angry, because of the war with the sound and the sand villages and the loss of their leader. Somehow the atmosphere affected the weather in the village hidden in the leaves, because it has been raining for a long time in the village

But today was different. The sun was shining brightly and the small poodles of water were starting to disappear. The village that had once been at the brink of extinction was finally coming together again. The houses that had been destroyed were being built anew and the people were returning to their daily lives again.

Right now all of the people in the village were gathering around the big building that was built in front of the hokage wall…the wall with the faces of the legendary hokages sculptured in them. Not a long time ago one of those great men had died to protect the village from an evil treat. The hokage was someone to be reckoned with and everyone acknowledged the person who had that position.

One of the people gathering around the building was the boy who was striving to become one of these hokages. It wasn't the easiest path for him to choose, but he chose it anyway. He was often called a demon or a monster by the adults of the village.

The young boy has been hated for his entire life and it wasn't even his fault. He was hated because he had saved the village from certain destruction thirteen years ago. The younger people didn't know this, because the third hokage had forbidden to talk about this, but he was in fact the container of a nine tailed demon called the Kyuubi.

Said boy glanced around and could see that almost every villager was glaring at him. Sighing, he quickly looked away, because he knew that he couldn't do anything about this. It was just their way of showing that they didn't want him in the village. Making his way through the crowd, he finally reached the place he was heading for: the big oak tree in the middle of the crowd.

Looking up he could see a pink and blue blur in the tree and a small smile came upon his whiskered face. Gathering chakra in his feet he started to move up the tree without using his hands. He still had to thank his sensei someday for teaching him that. Some of the people in the crowd gave him a confused look, because not everyone in the village had been trained in the ninja arts. He just gave them a smile and continued his way up.

Finally he reached his destination and he placed his feet on the branch of the large tree. He could see two of his most important people sitting there next to each other with a content smile on their faces.

One of them was the girl he had liked since he had first seen her. The girl had pink hair and a pretty big forehead. A lot of people always teased her for the size of that forehead. He didn't know why though, because he actually liked it. The girl was very smart, so he figured that it had to have something to do with the size of her forehead. Sitting next to her, he gave her a big smile. "Hey, Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired girl looked his way for a moment and nodded. "Hey, Naruto." She quickly turned her face again and started looking at the boy next to her. Naruto sighed and shook his head. It always went like this, so this wasn't something to get down for.

The boy next to her was his biggest rival, Uchiha Sasuke. The boy had always been good at anything and he even had his own fan club of girls, which included the pink haired girl next to him. The raven haired boy detested these girls, but somehow they just kept coming. Naruto guessed that it was his mysterious aura or something like that.

He was on of the last remaining members of one of the noblest clans of the village. His older brother had massacred his clan, but somehow Sasuke had survived. He now vowed to kill his brother and it seemed to be his only goal in life. He was always very silent and he opened up to nobody. Naruto knew that Sakura tried to get the attention of the mysterious boy, but it was all in vain. The girl didn't give up though. This was another thing he loved in the pink haired girl. She never seemed to give up.

"Yo, Sasuke." Naruto said while looking towards the blue sky. The only thing he got in return was a soft grunt, but he had been around the boy long enough to understand his language. It meant something like a greeting and Naruto just had to smile at the boy's weird antics.

They just sat there in silence for a few minutes while more and more people were starting to gather around the big building. Naruto glanced to his side and could see that Sakura was still looking at Sasuke with a dreamy look on her face. He mentally cursed himself, because he wanted to be in the bastard's position so badly. And it looked like that Sasuke wanted to switch just as badly as him, so why was fate being so unfair?

He was surprised when Sakura suddenly turned his way with a sad look on her face. He hated it when something like this happened. Sasuke must have hurt her feelings again or something. The girl signalled for him to come closer and he did as she wanted. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

The girl with emerald eyes let out a sigh and looked down the tree. "Do you know what is wrong with Sasuke-kun? I tried to start several conversations with him, but I don't even get a sound out of him."

Naruto had to raise an eyebrow now. "I don't want to make you angry or something, but isn't that how he always acts around us? I mean, the guy never talks to us unless it is absolutely necessary, so why would he start doing that now?"

He was surprised when the girl suddenly got a determined look in her face and looked him straight in the eyes. "No, something is up with him. I just know it, Naruto. Normally he just tells me to go somewhere else when I start talking to him, but now he doesn't even do that. Something has to be wrong."

Naruto looked her in the eyes and he could see that the girl was really worried about his rival. He only wished that someday she would be worried about him like that too. "Don't worry so much, Sakura-chan. He just woke up from the hospital. He's probably just a bit tired or something."

He knew the real reason why the boy was acting so strange since waking up again, but he also knew that Sasuke didn't want him to tell it to the girl next to him. His brother had defeated him in battle and damaged his mind very much with a technique. It took the help of a legendary sannin to help him wake up again.

When he saw the smile in her face he started to smile too. "Thanks, Naruto. You're right." After saying this she turned around to stare at the raven haired boy who seemed to be lost in thought again.

Naruto just hoped that someday that guy would return her feelings. He knew that the girl would never love a goofball like him. He had that damn monster sealed within him and she hated him even without knowing that. If she found out about the kitsune, then she would probably never talk to him ever again. He just wanted her to be happy and he knew that she would be more than happy with the raven haired boy.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of a gong. He turned his head towards the sound and became happy when he saw what was happening. The blonde woman, Tsunade, who he had saved with his sensei, Jiraiya, was walking towards the railing on the roof of the big building. She was wearing the hat which was reserved for hokages and the advisors of the village were not far behind her.

She stopped when she reached the railing and looked around with a determined look in her face. Naruto was surprised when she gave the boy a wink. Naruto started to blush for a moment, but quickly pulled his act together. He knew that the woman was a fifty year old woman in reality, so this wasn't the time to start blushing.

Tsunade grabbed her hat and held it in her hand. "The village had been through tough times lately, but we will get though this! A leader of a village should do everything in his power to protect the villagers and the previous hokages have done just that. They have protected us with their lives."

Everyone looked down when the woman said that. The death of the sandaime was something that was very hard to grasp. He had been the leader of the village for a long time and he was a pillar of strength for the villagers. "It is a pity that the past hokages have died, but I am sure that they wouldn't want us to grieve for the rest of our lives!"

"I used to think that the name hokage was nothing but a load of crap, but someone from this village has showed me that I was wrong." Naruto was surprised once again when she looked his way with a big smile on her face. Sakura saw this too and she got lost in thought. There was something that the boy next to her wasn't telling her.

"He showed me that true strength emerges when you fight for the people close to you and I am planning to do just that. Because all of you didn't give up, we are now going the right way again. You fought for each other and helped each other as much as possible. The village is now growing again and I am sure that we are ready for everything. All of this is thanks to you guys, the people in the village!"

The crowd went wild and screamed her name several times. "It is now summer time and I know that everyone could use a good time off. That's why we give every ninja ten days of summer vacation every year. Now, I know that you understand that we can't give every person that vacation at the same time, so the past hokages have made a special rule for this."

The people in the crowd started to smile now. "The first ten days go to the rookie genin. These kids have just graduated from the academy and have to get used to the way of the ninja, so the need their rest, especially after the hard times. Of course their parents get the vacation at the same time. Their vacation will start tomorrow."

Naruto suddenly felt really empty after hearing those words. He knew what the woman was saying. He didn't have to listen anymore. She was now saying who could go after the rookie genin and stuff. It wasn't important for him. He was quite happy with the vacation. It meant no missions for a while, so he could use the time to train and enjoy himself. But he also knew that everyone he knew would go out of the village with their parents. Everyone would leave him all by himself. He had no parents to go away with. Shivers came up his spine when he started thinking about the loneliness again.

Sakura had heard this speech several times before too and was getting bored. Glancing to her side, she could see the downcast face of the whiskered boy next to her. It surprised her a lot, because it wasn't often that she saw the boy in such a mood. Somehow it pained her to see the boy like that. No matter how much she put her mind in it, she couldn't find a reason for him to get so sad. They were getting vacation. That meant a lot of fun, didn't it?

The new hokage was finally done with the long speech and she walked back to the advisors and headed back inside the building with them. The people, surrounding the building, slowly made their way home. The village would be alright now. Everyone knew that Tsunade was one of the sannin and that she was one of the strongest people alive.

Naruto and the rest of team seven had decided to stay on the tree branch until the rest of the people had left. They were supposed to meet up there with their sensei anyway. And the lazy man was late….again. Naruto was surprised when the pink haired girl suddenly turned to him with a confused look on her face. "So, why did hokage-sama look at you when she was talking, Naruto?"

Naruto started playing with his fingers for a moment and glanced away. "Well, I am the person she was talking about. That's all."

There was a huge silence after that before Sakura started to laugh slightly. "You have to be kidding, Naruto. She is the new hokage and you are just a little genin. You don't actually think that I will believe something like that? Don't make up stupid things like that, baka."

Naruto sighed because he knew that this was going to happen. "But it is true! I brought her back to Konoha with Ero-sennin!"

He saw that she was still laughing at him and it made him quite sad. "And now I've got to believe that you know the hokage and that you brought her back to the village with some kind of pervert? Stop making things up, Naruto. You can't impress me with your lying."

Naruto started to look down now. He couldn't believe that she would talk to him like that. Had he done anything in his life to make her think about him like that? Sure, he had been a prankster for a big part of his life, but he had stopped doing those pranks for a long time now and the girl next to him should know that. And he had never lied to her before, so why did she think he did?

Sasuke turned to the blonde boy and saw the pain in his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but the boy had become his best friend and he hated to see him like that. He also knew that Naruto would never lie to the girl next to him like that. Turning to the pink haired girl, he gave her an angry look. "Shut up, you're annoying!"

This shocked Sakura a lot. It wasn't very often that the raven haired boy yelled against her. The ignoring part was bad enough, but now he actually yelled at her. Her head fell down, so that the bangs of hair clouded her face a bit, and she could feel the tears forming in her emerald eyes. She was even more startled when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. "Teme! Don't be so mean to her!"

Sasuke just gave him a confused and angry look and turned away. '_And here I thought I was helping him. Fine, protect your little flower, I don't care.' _

Sakura didn't understand why the boy defended her. She had just made fun of him and here he was standing up for her. '_I really don't get that guy. Why would he stand up for me like that?' _

She quickly pushed his hand away with a frown on her face. Placing her hands on her lap, she started to look down again. She was thinking about thanking the boy, because it was really nice of him. But the pink haired girl decided against it, because it would lower her chances with the Uchiha prodigy. It did make her feel a bit sad and guilty though, when she saw the pain in the eyes of the blonde boy next to her.

Naruto felt rejected and didn't want to stay her anymore. He only tried to help her. Was everything he did for her wrong or something? Did she just hate him for no reason at all? He was about to jump down when there was a puff of smoke behind the three younglings. They all turned around and saw their grey haired sensei appear. "Yo!"

Naruto and Sakura both pointed at him. "You're late!"

Sasuke and Kakashi both had to put their fingers in their ears. They both wondered just how those two could get so loud. "Could you guys pipe down for a minute please?!" The raven haired boy nearly screamed.

Sakura and Naruto crossed their arms, closed their eyes and started to pout, after seeing the reaction of their two team mates.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile when he saw his two students do this. The two seemed to be so much alike sometimes. And he knew that Sakura cared for the little guy too, but she just didn't realise it yet. The lazy jounin was about to jump onto the branch when he saw the mood his students were in. Sasuke seemed like his normal self, but the other two acted very strangely today. "What happened here?"

"Nothing happened…" Naruto and Sakura said in unison. They looked at each other when they realised that they just said the same thing and they saw the sadness in each other's eyes. Sakura broke out her trance and quickly glanced away. Seeing this, Naruto did the same after a while.

Sasuke just shrugged and stood up from his sitting position. "So, why are you here? I haven't got all day. I need to get stronger. I need to surpass him!"

The grey haired sharingan user sighed and jumped over to them. "Alright, I'll get straight to the point. Your vacation is starting tomorrow, so I guess that this is the last time we are together for a while. I am going on a mission tomorrow, so I just wanted to say something to you guys: have fun the next ten days."

"What?! I don't believe that woman. Can't you have a little break? I hoped to spend some time with you, Kakashi-sensei in my vacation. I guess that that's another plan down the drain…" Naruto said with disappointment visible in his eyes.

The branch suddenly started shaking and Sakura fell down on her knees. She grabbed the branch with her arms and looked around to find out what was causing it. Her eyes widened when she saw who the culprit was. Naruto was stamping his right foot on the branch out of frustration. "Naruto! Stop stamping! The branch will break and we will all fall down!"

The boy turned around to face the girl with a nervous smile on his face. "Sorry, Sakura-chan, I guess I got a bit carried away!" He then started to scratch the back of his head with his right hand while grinning.

Sakura got pissed, because she had almost fallen down the tree, and started to walk towards him with a fierce look in her eyes. The poor boy tried to get away after seeing that look, but eventually there was no place to go anymore. Quickly turning around he tried to jump to another branch, but somehow he didn't get far. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that she had grabbed his jacket with her right hand. "If you do something like that ever again, I'll make sure that you won't ever jump again! You got that!"

It was weird, but somehow he wasn't scared of the strongest of foes, but seeing his pink haired friend like this scared the hell out of him. "I promise, Sakura-chan! Please let me go now!" The boy was still shaking like crazy. She calmed down and sighed. "Okay, but only because you have apologised."

When she tried to move him towards the branch, the boy suddenly slipped out of her hands. "Shit!"

Kakashi's eye widened and he quickly ran down the tree with all the speed he was able to muster. Reaching the ground quickly, he looked up to see where to boy would land. He saw the boy falling down and concentrated on catching him.

The jounin figured that he still had some times left, so there was still enough time to read a few words. He put his hand in his kunai pouch to get the dirty book. His eyes widened when the object he was searching for wasn't there anymore. His favourite book was gone! _'Shit, I must have dropped it while running down.' _

The man started looking around like crazy. That was until he suddenly saw something from the corner of his eye. It was green and it had red letters on it. "There it is!" He suddenly saw a shadow over the book and he glanced to the side. A small kid was walking towards his precious book with dirty hands. "Nooooo!"

He quickly ran to the dirty book and picked it up with a perverted smile on his face. After making sure that the book was alright, he let out a sigh. Putting the book in his pouch again, he suddenly got the feeling that he had forgotten something rather important. That's when he heard a loud crash behind him. He hesitantly glanced over his shoulder to see what had caused the crash, although he already had a good idea. "Whoops..."

Sakura landed next to the lazy jounin with horrified look on her face. The smoke had cleared completely now and she was able to see the orange, blue and yellow colours. Not waiting for her sensei to come back to his senses she quickly ran towards the crash site.

Kneeling down next to the human sized hole, she started to get worried. "Naruto!"

Her eyes widened even more when she saw that the boy was out cold. "Naruto?"

She didn't get any response from the boy. "Naruto, are you okay?"

Kakashi, who had finally recovered from the shock, landed next to her with a worried look on his face. The man quickly grabbed the boy, hoisted him out of the small crater and lied him down on the ground. The lazy jounin quickly put his two fingers on his neck.

The pressure was rising in the area. Sakura became completely quiet for a second and Sasuke, who finally landed on the ground, didn't say a word either. After a while Kakashi finally let out a breath. "He is still alive."

Sakura felt relieved and sat down on the hard ground while catching her breath. The raven haired Uchiha just nodded and turned around to look at the sky. Sakura was sure that she could hear the boy mumble something resembling 'dobe'. She turned to her sensei instead of trying to talk with her crush. "Why didn't you catch him, Kakashi-sensei?!"

The copy ninja turned to the girl and gave her a nervous smile while scratching the back of his head. "Well, I accidentally dropped my book while running down and when I went to pick it up, Naruto hit the ground. Pretty stupid of me, eh."

Sakura's eyes widened and she brought a hand to her mouth. "No, you're lying, right? You chose your book over your student?"

"No, it's the truth actually." He fumbled in his pocket and brought the book out. "I got this 'Icha icha paradise' at the book store in Suna a few years ago."

When he saw that the girl was starting to get angry, he quickly opened the book. "Look, it even has the autograph of the writer in it! Don't you know how important this book is to me?!"

Sakura just sighed and shook her head. "Seriously, sensei, I thought that you were better than that. You were the one who taught us everything about teamwork and now you betray your own rule. I am very disappointed."

She quickly crawled over to her fallen team mate and started to shake his body. "Wake up. Naruto, please wake up, shannaro!"

His eyes suddenly opened after a few minutes and he quickly sat up. He pinched himself and noticed that he was still there. "I'm alive!" While saying that he brought his left hand to the huge bump on his head. His head was hurting like crazy at the moment.

Sakura became very happy. Tears began to form in her eyes again and her voice was low. "Naruto! You're okay!"

Said boy flinched when he heard that voice. He turned his head to the side and saw the girl, who had put him in this situation, sitting next to him. His eyes widened and he backed off. "Please don't hurt me, Sakura-chan! I promise that I won't do it again!"

Sakura didn't expect something like this and quickly wiped away the tears. He was already back to his normal self. Standing up, she glanced down. "Don't worry, Naruto. I seem to have hurt you enough already, anyway. Just promise that you won't do something like that again." When she saw the boy nod furiously, she couldn't help but smile. '_I have finally taught that baka a lesson!'_

Sasuke had enough and started to walk away. Sakura saw this too and frowned. The boy didn't even have the decency to say goodbye. Still, she had to try to get him. "Sasuke-kun, want to go on a date tomorrow?!"

"I am going to go on a training trip for the next five days, so go on a date by yourself!" He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura sighed. This was the last chance for her to go on a date with the boy for a while. She was about to go home as well, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she could see that Naruto was giving her a pleading look. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

The boy started fidgeting with his fingers again and a small blush was on his face. "Do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?"

The boy had asked her that same question almost every day since she met him. It got her thinking. Was she the same way with Sasuke? Was she just as annoying around the raven haired boy? But she couldn't stop trying. Sasuke was the one for her. The boy just needed to open up a bit, but then he would be perfect. "Sorry, Naruto, I have other things to do tomorrow."

Naruto walked over to her and gave her a soft smile. "Oh, that's too bad. I really wanted to go with you, Sakura-chaaaan. Well, at least let me walk you home. The summer vacation will start tomorrow, so let's go celebrate it!"

Sakura could see the happy expression on his face and she couldn't help but smile. Somehow the boy had that effect on her. He was always able to make someone happy in times like this. And he was right. Summer vacation was starting and she wanted to celebrate it too. "Sure, why not, Naruto."

She saw the smile on his face grow even bigger. "Ramen!"

Sakura sighed, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay, let's go eat ramen this one time, but you're paying!"

Giving her a smile, he ran past her and headed towards his favourite ramen stand. "Yeah, let's go, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura didn't know why, but she felt really happy inside. The boy was always so carefree and he did everything to make her happy. Why couldn't she give the boy a chance? He was so totally different than Sasuke, but he was mysterious in his own way too. At least this boy gave her the time of day. Thinking about this would have to wait for another time, because Naruto was waiting for her. "I'm coming!"

After finally reaching the boy, she gave him a small smile, which he returned immediately. She knew that she had to leave the village with her parents tomorrow. It was like that every year. They would go to that boring place deep in the forest. It wasn't that she hated to be with her parents, but it could get quite boring at times with having nobody her age around. But somehow she got the feeling that this vacation would get interesting.

The foxy grin on his face never left him and it made him look like a little kid. She couldn't help but smile. Why hadn't she seen that cute smile before? Was she so into Sasuke that she had never paid any kind of attention to the boy?

'_Wait a minute, did I just say cute?'_

'_**Yeah, you did. It's about time that you saw it. I tried to tell you many times, but you just ignored me.'**_

'_What are you doing here? I thought that you were finally gone.'_

'_**I am a part of you. You will never get rid of me, shannaro!'**_

'_I am so happy,' _she thought sarcastically_. 'Anyways, I must have said something else. I can't find him cute right? I mean, I already like Sasuke.'_

'_**Sasuke**__**-kun is handsome, but this baka can be pretty cute at times. Unlike Sasuke-kun he doesn't ignore you. And did you take a look at him in the chuunin exams. He has a fine body too, shannaro!'**_

'_No, I didn't see his body in the chuunin exams. It must be because I didn't give him any attention. But you are right, he doesn't ignore me and I can't deny that he can be cute when he wants too. But can this be? I can't actually like him, do I?'_

'_**I can't help you with that, but it is possible to like more people. Maybe you should give him more attention. Maybe you should give him a chance? I mean, maybe you like him much better than Sasuke-kun.'**_

'_You're right. It's not like Sasuke-kun will give me a chance any time soon anyway. He's handsome and very popular, but he isn't nice like that baka. I'll start being nicer to him and maybe when I come back from my vacation and I still find him cute, I'll ask him to go on a date with me.'_

'_**Great plan. Maybe we can finally enjoy our first kiss then.**__** You are very slow at this department. And maybe then…'**_

Sakura was blushing furiously now. _'I am only fourteen years old! Stop being such a pervert!'_

'_**Okay, okay, but shouldn't you get back to the real world now. He must think that you lost it or something.'**_

'_Shit, you're right. I completely forgot about him.'_

She shook her head and opened her eyes again. She glanced to her side and saw that Naruto was giving her a strange look. "What?" The boy didn't say anything, but he placed one of his hands on her forehead. "What are you doing?!"

Naruto quickly removed his hand and gave her a nervous smile. "You were spacing out a bit for a while. I have been talking to you, but you were not listening. And then it looked like you were having a conversation with yourself and you became red at one point too. So I thought that you might be sick or something."

Sakura couldn't help but smile. The boy was actually worried about her, because she spaced out a bit. "Don't worry; I was just thinking about something." This seemed to calm the boy down. She didn't know why, but suddenly she felt really childish and she started running. "The last one at the ramen stand is a slug!"

Naruto didn't understand why the girl was suddenly so happy. Wasn't she angry at him just a while ago? He didn't mind though. Every time with her was a good time. He took of in the same direction as her with a big smile on his face. He suddenly got the feeling that this summer vacation was going to be a great one. "Wait up, you cheated!"

A grey haired man with a mask on his face was standing beside a small crater with a small book in his hand. He saw his two last students running away with smiles on their faces. The wind was blowing softly and there wasn't anyone near the place anymore. The man sighed and opened the book with a downcast face. "Was I completely forgotten?" He then made his way towards his lonely apartment while reading his book.

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AN: That was the first chapter of the story. I hope you enjoyed it. I had to set things off this chapter and it became very long. I think that the others chapters will be shorter than this one, but better. Expect a lot of NaruSaku fluff and romance. It is a romance story, so there won't be much action. Sakura begins to see the real naruto in this chapter and she finds him quite cute. She isn't over Sasuke yet, but she is willing to give him a chance once she gets back. And sorry if I made Kakashi look like a stupid pervert, but I really think of him like that. The next chapter things will really start. I am planning to do one day of the vacation per chapter. So there will probably be this one, then the ten days and then maybe an epilogue.

Please review, because I want to know what you think of my story. You can flame me too if you think it is very bad. If you see any big grammar mistakes you can tell me too. I will try to answer any questions asked in reviews.


	2. Day 1: Do I like you?

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it!

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto and Sakura would have kissed already**

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**Day 1****: Do I like you?**

Sakura was walking through the dark streets of Konoha. There wasn't a soul in sight and it was quiet, almost too quiet. How did she end up here? When searching through the mazes in her mind didn't help, she was getting a bit scared.

Her attention was suddenly drawn by a hard sound behind her. Already shivering from fear, she slowly turned around to see what it was. There was nothing there. The space behind her was empty. The weather was pretty bad, so there was a lot of wind today. The wind probably just caused something to fall over or something.

Taking a few minutes to regain her breath, she started to walk again. Looking up, she could see the moon shining. It was a beautiful sight. There were a lot of stars as well and it looked like that those stars were dancing around the giant light ball. But somehow she couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. Why was she getting this cold and empty feeling all of a sudden?

Shaking her head, she resumed her walk again. She hated to be completely alone at times like this. She had seen a lot of horror movies in her lifetime and now she regretted that. All of the scenes came back to her at the moment. She closed her eyes and shook those thoughts away. It didn't help to get scared now.

When she opened her eyes again, she suddenly saw a man in front of her with a giant knife in his right hand. The man was holding a bottle of sake in the other one. Her eyes widened when the man started to approach her with a twisted look on his face.

Quickly turning around, she tried to get away, but she stopped after taking two steps. There was another man with a giant sword on his back. He was wearing some kind of mask and she could see the smoke coming out of his mouth. This one closed in on her too and she got really scared now.

She quickly closed her eyes and started to scream. She stayed like this for a couple of seconds, but when the nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes again. "What the hell?" There was nobody there. She looked around, but there was no sign of the two freaks. Had she imagined everything? Was it just some kind of stupid prank?

"Whatever you are doing, this is not funny!" Sakura screamed. The people who heard her had to think that she was a lunatic, but she didn't care. She was scared and she wasn't afraid to tell the world this.

When nobody answered, she sighed. _'It must have been my imagination…' _

She started walking again, but looked around her the whole time. After turning a corner, she suddenly stopped. In front of her was a large street and in the end she could see the Haruno household. A smile came upon her face when she saw this.

But when she started walking, it became darker and darker. This didn't help, so she started running. She stopped after hearing some sounds again. Looking to her left, she could see that one of the trashcans was moving. Her eyes widened and she slowly approached it, grabbing a kunai out of her pouch just in case.

She slowly looked inside and she let out a sigh when she saw that is was just a little cat. "Don't scare me like that, little guy."

She turned around to head home, when she couldn't move anymore. "What the hell?!" She glanced down and was shocked to see that her feet were covered in sand.

"I couldn't kill you the last time, but I will kill you now!"

Sakura glanced up and saw the source of the voice. Her eyes widened and tears started to fall down. "No…" Before her was standing the demon that had almost killed her during the sound/sand invasion. In front of her was standing the sand ninja, Gaara!

She tried to get away, but it was no use. The sand was just too strong! Glancing down, she could see that the sand was climbing its way up. It was up to her knees now. She saw that the monster gave her a wicked smile before lifting his hand in the air. "I live only to kill! No die!"

"No!" She screamed before everything went black.

Sakura looked around and was surprised to find herself in her own room. "Was it…was it just a dream?"

Suddenly the door to her room opened and her parents came rushing in. Her mother sat down on the bed and started to hug her daughter, who started to cry when her mother did this. "There there, let it all out, my little flower."

"It was so scary. It was so awful." Sakura screamed through all the whimpering.

Her mother continued to hold her. The woman had no idea what had just happened, but she knew that it wasn't pretty. "It's okay, dear. Just let it all out now."

Somehow the crying started to get softer and after a few minutes it completely stopped. The girl stopped shaking and just enjoyed the warmth her mother was emitting. She glanced up and gave her mother a warm smile, although her eyes were still red from crying. "Thanks a lot, mom. I needed that."

The Haruno woman just smiled and released her daughter. Looking at her shirt, she couldn't help but smile. "You got my shirt all wet, little lady."

Sakura frowned when she heard the nickname her mother used for her, but had to smile too when she saw the huge wet spot on her mother's shirt. "I'm sorry, mom. Don't worry; I'll wash it for you."

"Don't be silly, sweetheart!" The pink haired woman said with a big smile on her face. "I am your mother. I am just glad that you stopped crying."

"Thank you, mom." Sakura said with a weak smile on her face.

Her mother saw this too and put the girl on her lap. Sakura tried to resist, but her mother wasn't letting her go. She had no choice but to surrender and made herself comfortable on her mother's lap. "Mom, I am not a little girl anymore, you know. I'm already fourteen years old!"

A smile came on the face of the woman. "I know, dear, but to me you will always be my little girl. So what happened, Sakura?"

The pink haired girl closed her eyes and laid her head on her mother's chest. "I just had a bad dream, mom."

"Just a bad dream? The way you were screaming and crying just now would indicate something else. Would you like to tell me what you were dreaming? Maybe it will help you calm down." The pink haired woman exclaimed with worry written all over her face.

Sakura sighed, because she knew that she couldn't hide anything from her mother. "Okay, it was a really bad dream. I was walking through the village and I was really scared. I was suddenly attacked by Gaara and then I woke up. I thought that he was going to kill me."

Her mother knew who this Gaara was, because Sakura had told her everything what had happened. She had been a medic in her younger days and she knew that an experience like that could cause someone to freak out. "Don't worry, dear. You're just going through a tough time right now. You were almost killed by that bastard and it is only normal that you have nightmares because of it."

Sakura's face fell and she began talking in a low tone. "I'm sorry, mom. But it was really scary. If it wasn't for my team mates, I would have been dead by now."

"I know, dear. And I am really thankful for those two." She took the hands of her daughter in her own and gave her a smile. "They saved my precious flower and I don't know what I would do without you."

Sakura got tears in her eyes again and embraced her mother with all the strength she had. "I love you too, mom."

The woman stood up and walked over to her husband, who had been standing there the whole time. "Breakfast is almost ready, dear. So hurry and take a shower. We are leaving in a few hours and I know that you still have to pack your stuff."

Sakura gave her parents a smile and started to get her clothes for today. "Alright, mom. I'll be right there!" The two left the room to give their daughter some privacy.

Looking outside, she could see that the sun was shining. She opened her window and the heat spread into her room. Opening her dresser, she grabbed a red short sleeveless shirt that stopped just above her bellybutton. She then grabbed her back ninja shorts and a short skirt to cover it. That would do for today.

Stepping into the bathroom, she laid down the clothes and grabbed some black underwear. She looked in the mirror and saw herself for the first time. There was no denying it. She just looked terrible. Her eyes were red, her cheeks were puffy and her hair was a mess. She definitely needed a good shower.

She turned on the water and took off her pyjamas. Stepping into the hot water, she let out a moan. The water felt good on her sweat-covered body. She still couldn't understand why she started dreaming about that again. She thought that she was over that by now.

Shaking those thoughts away, she grabbed a battle with shampoo. The bottle was pink and she started reading what it was. "Hmm, shampoo that smells like strawberries, eh. Mom got me a new one. I hope that it smells nice. Maybe then Sasuke-kun will start liking me more."

She sprayed some of the shampoo on her hand and started to rub it into her hair. It smelled really nice and a smile came upon her face. Then it suddenly hit her. Sasuke would be gone for at least five days, so he wasn't here today. So the boy couldn't smell it, even if he wanted to.

She sighed and stepped under that water again. The water mixed with the shampoo and the strawberry-scent became even stronger. Her hair felt softer than before and it smelled really nice. She had to ask her mother where she could get this shampoo.

Suddenly another boy came to her mind, her other team mate. The most unpredictable ninja in the world. She still wasn't completely sure about her feelings, but she knew that the boy was important to her.

She could still remember the events of yesterday. She had won their little race and she was still able to remember the face he made then. It was the mix between a pout and a smile. They then both ordered two cups of miso ramen and they ate it while talking about random things. Surprisingly, the boy was real fun to be with. He never stopped talking and he was even able to show some table manners. They talked about the vacation and the ninja life and even about her family.

One thing made her a bit sad though. They were talking about the trip Sakura was going on and then the boy suddenly whispered that he had nobody to spend the vacation with. Sakura knew that he didn't have parents and that Iruka would be too busy with his job. So the boy had nobody spend his vacation with. It was sad to hear and she was sure that the boy was on the verge of crying, but when she was about to comfort him, he gave her a smile and started talking about other things again.

She didn't want to leave too, but her parents told her that it was some kind of tradition to go there. She didn't know why though. To her it was nothing special and she wondered what made the place so special. "I'll go ask them sometime. It's not like I have something better to do there anyways."

She was now sure of one thing, though. The boy was not the boy who she thought he was. He was nice, he has a cute smile and he's fun to be with.

'_**I knew it. You just thou**__**ght that he was cute. Are you forgetting about Sasuke-kun? I sure hope not. Although I too think that Naruto is cute, Sasuke-kun is the one for us.'**_

Sakura frowned when she heard that the voice in her head had returned again. _'Yeah, I think that you are right there. I don't know why, but I kind of find him cute when he smiles at me. It gives me some kind of happy feeling. It isn't the same feeling I get when I am around Sasuke-kun though. I just can't lay my finger around it.'_

'_**What do you mean? What kind of feeling does he give you?'**_

'_Well, whenever I am around him, I feel like I can be myself, you know. I don't have to pretend to be someone I am not.'_

'_**Like you do with Sasuke-kun?'**_

Sakura thought for a while and wanted to protest, but she just couldn't find the words. She knew that her inner self was right. She always acted more mature around Sasuke and because of that she couldn't have any fun. She hated it sometimes, because it was boring as hell.

'_**You know that I am right.'**_

'_Yeah, but why do I do that with Sasuke-kun and why don't I do that with Naruto?'_

'_**Probably because you know that Sasuke-kun wouldn't like the real you and Naruto is almost the same as you and that's why you don't have to act around him.'**_

Sakura thought about this and knew that it was true. She knew that she could act like a little kid sometimes and she was certain that Sasuke wouldn't accept a childish girl as his girlfriend. So she had to act to make him like her, but with Naruto she didn't have to do that. She could just be herself and she liked that. She hated that acting and just wanted to express herself more.

'_You know, I think that you are right. I don't know what this feeling is, but I will find out.__ I do feel that we have grown a lot closer the last few days. I can truly say that I see him as one of my best friends.'_

'_**This is the smartest thing that you have said all day. I can't wait to grab that ass of those two boys, shannaro!'**_

When Sakura saw her inner self getting all exited, she quickly shook her head. She stopped the water and exited the shower. She dried herself with the pink towel she got from her father. Putting the towel on her head to dry her hair, she turned to the mirror. Her inner self could be so irritating. Why did she have to be so perverted? Her eyes widened when she saw the red cheeks in the glass. Why was she blushing?

'_**Just admit it girl, you're just as perverted as me, shannaro!'**_

When her cheeks started to become even redder, she quickly turned around. "I am not!" She quickly put on her panties and her bra and exited the room. Hopefully her other persona would stop being such a pest after exiting the bathroom.

'_**I'm just telling you the truth.'**_

'_Can you just shut up? I have things to do, so I you don't mind.'_

'_**Okay. But I will be back later.'**_

'_I know…__And now leave me alone!'_

When the girl in her head didn't reply, she sighed. "Finally, I should really start asking rent for her staying in my head…"

She put on her clothes and then started doing her hair. It took her quite some time, but she was finally ready for breakfast. She wasn't a girl for nothing right, so she could take her time to get ready. Looking at her alarm clock, she could see that it was past twelve already. Just how long had she been sleeping. She couldn't believe it.

She walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. Her head perked up when she smelled something nice. When she finally reached the place, she couldn't believe her eyes. The table in front of her was filled with pancakes, toast and bread. "What's the occasion, mom. We never eat this for breakfast."

Her mother flipped another pancake in the air and answered her daughter without turning around. "This is the last time that we can eat like this. So I thought why not. Why, don't you like it, dear?"

Sakura had grabbed a pancake before anyone could say something. "This looks great. Thanks a lot. I just love pancakes. Has anyone seen the strawberry jelly?"

"Here it is." She glanced to her side and saw that her father was handing his hand out with the jar of jelly in it.

Sakura took the jar and quickly put her spoon in it to put some jelly on the pancake. "Thanks, dad!"

Sakura's mother and father couldn't believe what they were seeing. Sakura was devouring one pancake after another. Table manners were forgotten as well. "Sakura, calm down. They won't walk away, you know."

"I know, dad." The pink haired girl said between bites. "But I just can't control myself when I see pancakes, you know that."

When she was finally done, she sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. "That was good!"

"So, what are your friends going to do on their summer vacation?" Her mother asked while sitting down next to her. She still couldn't believe that her daughter had eaten more than twenty pancakes.

Sakura turned to her mother with a thoughtful look. "Let's see, Sasuke-kun is away on a training mission. So I guess that I won't be seeing him for a while, but I don't see him very often aside from missions anyways. I think that he really hates it to be around me…" She sighed and shook her head.

"Naruto isn't going to anything. All of his friends are going away, so he doesn't have anything to do. I guess that he's going to train or something." Sakura frowned and stood up with a sad expression on his face.

Her parents saw this too and looked at each other. Giving each other a confused look, they turned to their daughter again. "Since when do you care about, Naruto? I thought that you hated him."

This shocked Sakura. "What do you mean, mom?"

"Well, you always complained how stupid and annoying he was. It was always Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that. You just said that he was in the way of your love life and that you hated him." The woman said with a stern look on her face.

Sakura's face fell. _'I really said all those things, didn't I? And I said them without a reason too. He just wanted to talk to me and I always pushed him away. But no more. I will be nice to him. I will make it up to you, Naruto.'_

"I have changed my mind. I now see the real Naruto and I now see that I was wrong about him." The pink haired girl said with a smile on her face.

"Is that so? Well, I am happy for you." Sakura's mother then sighed. _'I am sorry, but you don't know anything about that boy, dear. I just hope that you can accept him with the being inside of him. He really needs a friend like you.'_

Her mother then gave her daughter a smile of her own. "So, is the great Sasuke-kun replaced then?"

The woman started to laugh when she saw that the girl's face became beef red. "No, it's nothing like that, mom. We're just friends! I do feel like we are closer than before and maybe I like him, but Sasuke-kun is still the one for me."

The pink haired lady knew what was going on and she couldn't help but smile. Finally she was slowly getting over that stupid crush. "Okay, dear. If you say so. Then I have no choice but to believe you." The woman said sarcastically. "And what about Ino-chan? She used to be your best friend."

Sakura's eyes suddenly widened. "What time is it, mom!"

The woman looked at the clock and turned to her daughter again. "It's almost one o'clock. Why?"

The pink haired girl suddenly stood up and turned to the door. "I am supposed to meet with Ino in a few minutes. I'll see you at the gates, mom! My suitcase is under my bed and you know where my clothes are." With that the girl left the building, leaving two confused parents behind.

"So what do you think, Yuki?" The man asked her.

The pink haired woman sighed and shook her head. "She is falling for the boy. I kind of like the idea. That boy deserves someone like her to love him. And I hate to say it, but I think that she could use someone like him too."

The man sighed and stood up. "Well, I guess that I should be going now. I'll see you later." He walked over to his wife and gave her a deep kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too, sweetie!"

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Sakura was running as fast as she could. She didn't have much time left. It was already one o'clock and she had decided to go shopping with Ino today. She had to leave the village very soon, so she wanted to get there on time, but something had to go wrong of course. "Ino-pig is going to yell at me for this. I can't wait…Why did mom have to make pancakes today?! She knows that I can't restrain myself when I see them."

'_**Yeah, you looked like Naruto eating his ramen!'**_

'_What the hell are you talking about?'_

'_**Nothing, **__**nothing, just hurry.'**_

Sakura was about halfway there now. Just three more long streets to go and she would be there. She turned a corner and was surprised when she saw a big blur of orange in front of her. "Shit!" She bumped into the orange blur and fell on her behind. "That hurt."

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

Said girl opened her eyes. She knew only one person in the whole world who called her like that. She looked up to find Naruto with his hand outstretched. A smile appeared on her face and she grabbed his hand. The hyperactive boy hoisted her up and gave her a nervous smile. He knew that the girl could get pretty angry because of something like this. "Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. I wasn't looking...again."

"No, no, no. It's is my fault. I was running too fast and I couldn't stop in time. Thanks for helping me up though." She said with a smile on her face.

Naruto just smiled back with his foxy grin and started to scratch the back of his head. "You're welcome, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smiled, because he was just the same Naruto as always.

'_**Hurry, say something to him. We can't talk to him for almost a week after this.**__** If you really want to find out your feelings for him, you have to talk. Just say something!'**_

Sakura agreed with her inner self and started to think. When she finally thought of something she saw that Naruto was still smiling at her. "Thanks for last night by the way. I really enjoyed myself."

The boy's smile grew even bigger and Sakura couldn't help but smile back. He looked even cuter when smiling like that. "I am glad that you did, Sakura-chan. I really had fun too! I hope that we can do it again sometime!"

'_**This is your time to strike!**__** Then we can reel him in and have our way with him, shannaro! He's not Sasuke-kun, but I am sure that we can have a lot of fun with him too!'**_

'_No, __you pervert! I am still not sure about my feelings for him. I still believe that Sasuke-kun is the one for me. And even if I do like him, I am only fourteen!'_ Sakura thought while taking a few steps. When she saw that the boy started walking next to her, she became happy.

"I'll think about it. Maybe if you behave yourself, we can do it again sometime." She said while looking forward. She didn't want the boy to know that she was actually thinking about it.

She was surprised when the boy suddenly stopped and started jumping up and down. "Oh yeah!"

Sakura put her hands in the air and shook her head. That boy really needed to grow up, although she found it kind of cute as well. "So what were you doing, Naruto?"

Said boy ran to her and then looked towards the houses in the southern part of the village. "I just came from Iruka-sensei. He had a bit of time, so we talked a bit. It was really fun. But he has a lot of work to do, so he won't be able to spend time with me for a while."

Sakura saw his sad expression and walked over to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a soft smile. "Don't worry, Naruto. Cheer up. When I get back from my vacation, we'll spend some time together, okay. So don't feel down. Sasuke-kun will be back by then too, so we can have a lot of fun together then!"

Naruto knew that the girl was still fond of the raven haired boy and it pained him to hear her say his name. The girl was really nice today, but he knew that it was just an act. But Sasuke was his friend too, so he was actually looking forward to seeing the boy again, although he wanted to kick his ass as well. Looking up, he gave her a smile, although it was a forced one. "Thank a lot, Sakura-chan!"

They then continued to walk towards the shopping district and nobody said something. Both were nervous and didn't know what to say anymore. It wasn't often that they were enjoying each other's company like this. But both didn't object either. Sakura got a funny feeling in her stomach and wondered if she really started to like the boy next to her. Glancing to her side, she was surprised to see the boy looking at her with a frown. "What?"

The boy walked over to her and stretched out his hand. "You've got something on your face."

Gently moving his fingers over her cheek, he removed the red stuff that was on her face. He brought his fingers to his nose and was too busy examining the stuff to see the red face of his pink haired friend. "It smells like strawberries. What is it, Sakura-chan?"

Quickly regaining her composure, she took a look at the red stuff and immediately knew that it was jelly. Mentally hitting herself because of her stupidity, she started to laugh nervously. She knew that she was blushing again too, but this time it was because of embarrassment. "It is jelly; I was in a rush while eating breakfast, so I forgot to clean my face. Sorry."

The boy suddenly started snickering and Sakura started to frown. She was getting angry now. "What's so funny?!"

The boy quickly stopped laughing, because he knew that the girl could get really angry. "You hit me all the time, because I get ramen in my face while eating, and now you are the same as me. Shame yourself, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura became even redder and couldn't help but laugh herself. It was the truth. Normally she wasn't like this. Maybe she was hanging around him too much. She lightly hit the boy on the head and then pointed a finger at him. "You know that I have to kill you if you tell anyone about this, don't you."

Naruto waved his hands in front of him to protect himself. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan! I won't tell anyone. I promise! And I don't go back on my word, because that is my way of the ninja!"

Sakura smiled, because she knew that the boy was true to his word. She suddenly realised that she still had to go to Ino. "Naruto, what time is it!"

Said boy quickly looked up to see the clock. "Almost two o'clock. Why?"

"Shit, I was supposed to meet up with Ino-pig!" Sakura almost screamed.

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Then you are a little too late, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura started running and sighed. The boy was still as dense as you could get. "You think I don't know that, baka!"

The pink haired girl was surprised when the blonde appeared next to her with his foxy grin. She shook her head, but didn't tell him to go away. She was actually kind of glad. "I am a bit faster. I'll tell her that you are almost there." And then he disappeared.

'_He's so__ fast. Maybe we can train together sometime. I still feel like I am a bit weak, but maybe he can help me become stronger. He's stupid and annoying sometimes, but he can be really nice when he wants to as well.'_ She finally reached the shopping district and looked around to find her two friends. "Where are they?"

"Sakura-chan!"

Said girl turned around and saw that the two blondes she was looking for were coming her way. She started waving with her hand until she saw the angry look of the female's face. _'Shit, the pig is angry…'_

And she was right. Ino came her way and stopped right in front of her with a frown. She lightly hit the pink haired girl on the head before looking her straight in the eyes. "Where were you forehead!? I have been waiting for more than an hour. I was just about to leave when Naruto here told me that you were coming."

Although she wasn't happy with the nickname, she took a step backwards and started apologising. "Sorry, I overslept and bumped into Naruto on the way. I kind of forgot about the time. Sorry, Ino. I hope that you want to go anyways. I can still go to a few shops."

The furious blonde turned to the other blonde and when she saw that he nodded, she calmed down. "Okay, I forgive you this time, forehead. But you'll be in trouble if it ever happens again. And you let me hanging because of Naruto out of all people. You act like I have nothing better to do then go shopping with you. Well, let's go!"

Ino started to walk away and Sakura turned to Naruto one last time with a smile on her face. "Thank for the help, Naruto!"

"It was my pleasure, Sakura-chan!" The boy said with a smile on his face. The smile became a bit smaller though after a few seconds. "I guess that this is the last time I get to see you in a while. I hope that you enjoy your vacation."

Sakura's lips curled into a smile because of his smile, but she wasn't feeling that well. The boy wasn't happy and she partially knew why. She knew that the villagers hated him for some reason. After finally giving some attention to the boy, she was able to see all the glares that were sent his way. There were calling him things like 'monster' and 'demon' too. But she just couldn't figure out why. He wasn't the monster they made him out to be. He was one of the kindest people she knew. So why would those people hate him? Maybe her parents would know.

"Thanks a lot, Naruto. I hope that you enjoy yours as well. I'll come visit you when I come back, okay?" Sakura said with a small smile, although she had trouble doing so.

"That would be great, Sakura-chan! Well, I think that you should go now. I wouldn't keep Ino waiting anymore. She looks really scary right now!"

Both started to laugh now. Naruto turned around to leave, so that the girls could go shopping. "See ya, Sakura-chan!"

"Yeah, see ya, Naruto!" Sakura replied while turning around. She didn't know why, but it hurt to leave him like that. Bringing a hand to her chest, she tried to figure it out. It was like she was leaving a part of her behind with him.

She started to walk, when she suddenly heard her name. Turning around, she gave the boy a confused look. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

The boy didn't turn around and kept walking, so that Sakura couldn't see his face. When the boy didn't respond, she turned around again. Did she just imagine it or something? Shaking her head and shrugging, she was about to run towards her shopping partner when she heard his voice again.

"Your hair smells really nice today, it smells like strawberries."

Her eyes widened and she quickly turned around. The boy wasn't there anymore. Sakura couldn't help but smile. So there was someone who smelled it and it was no other than Naruto. She didn't know why, but her heart started to beat more rapidly and she could feel her cheeks burning. Why was she feeling like this?

'_**What are you getting so excited for? It was Naruto who said it, not Sasuke-kun?!'**_

'_But __I normally feel like this when I am around Sasuke-kun. What is going on?'_

'_**Maybe because Sasuke-kun has never complimented you. And he has never paid attention to you. And I know for certain that he would never care about how you smell. Our dream boy has some flaws.'**_

Sakura really wanted to deny it, but she knew it was true. Her heart couldn't lie to her. A smile came upon her face. It was like she was seeing Sasuke in front of her, but it wasn't the raven haired boy…it was Naruto. And she liked the feeling, more than anything else. _'You're not done with me yet, Naruto. I am going to figure this feeling out no matter what.'_

She was broken out of her thoughts when she saw Ino waving her hand in front of her. "Hey, forehead, you okay?"

Sakura just smiled and started walking. "I'm great, Ino-pig."

The blonde was confused and ran to her friend. "So why did you have that dreamy look on your face, Sakura? Were you thinking about him again?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about 'him' again." The pink haired girl said and her smile grew even wider, because she knew that they weren't talking about the same boy.

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"Where is she? She told me that she would be back at four o'clock." Sakura's mother said with a frown on her face.

They were supposed to meet at the gates of the village, but Sakura still wasn't here yet. Looking at her watch, she could see that it was already past four. Her daughter wasn't the type to come late. Yuki hated it. She could be a bit overprotective at times, but only because she loved her daughter. Sakura was the only child she had, so she loved her more than anything. She was about to get Sakura when a hand stopped her.

She turned to the man who stopped her with a confused look on her face. "I have to find her. What if something happened to her?"

"Don't worry, Yuki, she's already here." The man said with a smile on his face, while pointing towards the pink blur that was heading their way.

When Sakura finally reached the two, she sat down on the ground for a moment. The two adults could see that the girl had been running, because she was completely out of breath. "I am sorry, I forgot the time and shopping was so much fun. Look, I have even bought a new bikini for the vacation." Sakura said while showing the bags.

"I am happy for you, Sakura, but next time: come on time!" Sakura was taken back by the tone of her mother. "Do you know how worried I was? I have been waiting and waiting for you. Anything could have happened to you. You could have been kidnapped or you could have been raped or even worse: you could have been killed. I don't know what I would do without you, shannaro!"

Sakura sighed. "Mom, I am a kunoichi. I know how to take care of myself."

Yuki smiled and patted her daughter on her back. "I know, dear. But you're still my little flower too. Well, we have wasted enough time already. Let's go."

They nodded and started walking towards their new destination. Sakura took one more glance over her shoulder. The village was beautiful and the sunshine gave it an extra effect. She could hear her mother gasp at the beautiful side. A smile came upon her face. Not because of the sight she was now seeing, but because she was thinking about a certain knucklehead ninja again. _'I will figure out this feeling. That is my promise to you, Naruto.'_

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**AN: **Finally finished the second chapter. I want to thank everyone for the nice reviews. I didn't expect to see so many of them and I am glad that you liked the first chapter.

Well, I don't know why, but the chapter became more than 5000 words again. I hope that you like the length, but I can't guarantee that every chapter will be so long. This chapter was more Sakura based and I think that the next one will be more Naruto based.

I hope that Naruto and Sakura are still in character. I am trying my best and the only thing that is out of character a bit is Sakura liking Naruto, although I believe that she liked him in the manga too. She will act a bit out of character, or else I can't make this story of course, but I will try my best to keep most of her in character. Sakura's parents will play a pretty big role in the story too. And you can see that inner Sakura is a pervert. The dream that Sakura was having in the beginning will play a role in later chapter too. Not much NaruSaku yet, but it will be there in later chapters. Hope you guys like fluff and mushy stuff ;)

I made a small edit, because after reading this, I figured that I went too fast with her feelings, so I have made some small changes. She still thinks that she likes him though. And someone pointed out that I used the word 'baka' too much and I agree with him. I hope that you still like the chapter though.

Well, I hope that the next chapter will come quickly too.

Please keep reviewing, because I want to know what you think of my story. I got really motivated today because I saw those nice reviews for the first chapter. You can flame me too if you think it is very bad. I didn't have much time, so I haven't checked the chapter, so if you see any big grammar mistakes you can tell me too. I will try to answer any questions asked in reviews.


	3. Day 2: Thinking about you

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto and Sakura would have kissed already**

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**Day 2: Thinking about you**

Walking through the village, Naruto couldn't help but frown. He sighed, because it was just the second day of his well earned vacation and he was hoping for it to end already. There was completely nothing to do in the whole village. Most of his friends were out of town and even Iruka and Jiraiya were nowhere to be found. To say it bluntly: he was bored, very bored.

The white haired sannin had taught him how to use one of the strongest jutsus in the world and because of that man Sasuke and Kakashi were alright now. He had told Tsunade to come back to the village and she was the one who healed his two team mates. He was even more surprised with the abilities of the frog tamer. He was able to scare Uchiha Itachi away, while both Kakashi and Sasuke were defeated easily. And to think that he was willing to train him for a while.

He was hoping to find the white haired pervert again, so that the man could train him. It wasn't as if he had something better to do at the moment anyways and the training he was doing on his own wasn't very helpful. In order to get stronger he needed to become faster, stronger and more intelligent. A few more jutsus would help too.

He had even gone to the hot springs in the village this morning in order to find him, but he wasn't even there. _'Where could that pervert be? The last time I saw him was when he was with the old hag, Maybe she would know where he is. Or better yet, maybe she could teach me some things, like that super strength. That would certainly come in handy.' _Naruto then imagined himself with superhuman strength while beating the shit out of Sasuke.

Making up his mind, he decided to go to the new hokage. He started walking towards the tower of the hokage and put a huge smile on his face. Maybe something good would happen. He would do anything to become stronger. He needed power to become hokage and to protect his important people.

That group of important people had been growing a lot lately. It wasn't a long time ago since he was completely alone in the world, but he had come a long way already. His first real friend was the sandaime. The old man had helped him out of the orphanage, because they hated the boy there. He had gone so far to give him his own apartment and he had helped him into the ninja academy as well. Without him he would have never come this far.

A sad expression came upon his face now. The old man was no longer alive. He had died in order to protect the village. He could still remember how hard it was to keep his tears inside on the funeral. Even now his tears threatened to fall while thinking about the death of his first real friend. _'Don't worry old man. I will continue what you started.'_

The third hokage was one of his reasons to become hokage in the first place. Sure, he wanted to get the title in order to get acknowledgment from the people, but more than that he wanted to become like the old man. He had given his life to protect his friends and his family and Naruto wanted to become the same. Ever since the man saved Naruto from the loneliness, the boy wanted to do the same for other people. He wanted to be there for them. Nobody should have to go through the same thing as him. That's why he wanted to become hokage. To protect everyone from harm and the loneliness.

He suddenly had to think about Sakura. She was his team mate and she was one of the strongest girls he had ever seen. Although physical strength wasn't her forte, her intelligence made her even more dangerous.

The pink haired girl had a special place in his heart. Ever since he had first seen her crying in the park one day, he had liked her. Just as him the girl had always been bullied in her younger days. Not because she had a monster in her body, but because people thought that she had a big forehead. Naruto didn't get it. He actually liked her big forehead, because that could only mean more brains right? But what made him angry was that people were being bullied for such stupid reasons. It just wasn't fair.

And then there was that day that he had transformed into Sasuke after they had become genin. Naruto found out a lot that day. Sakura had told him that she was searching for acknowledgment. Although she had told him that while he was transformed, it didn't make a difference for him. That moment changed everything for the boy. He then understood that they were a lot alike. Both were searching for acknowledgment and acceptance. Since that day he realised something. He liked her and he wanted to be there for her, to protect her from evil and to always keep her safe from harm.

Naruto's face fell now, because he knew that the pink haired girl didn't like him in that way. In the past every time that he tried to ask her out she ended up saying that he was being annoying. That hurt him a lot, because he really wanted to be with her. And to make it worse, the girl seemed to like his biggest rival.

But lately the girl slowly opened up to him. She actually began talking to him and she didn't call him annoying as often as before. And just yesterday she was actually being nice to him. He didn't understand why, but she smiled at him numerous times and it made him feel all warm inside. And he didn't want to lose that warm feeling.

The tower of the hokage finally came into sight and a smile came upon his face. He just hoped that the old hag knew where the pervert was. That lazy sannin was probably just enjoying the weather somewhere while peeking on girls.

Finally reaching the tower of the hokage, he started to walk up the stairs. This was always the hardest part, because the hokage had chosen to get a room at the top of the tower. There seemed to come no end to those dreaded stairs. He was almost halfway there when he suddenly saw someone coming his way. A smile came upon his face when he saw who it was.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled while waving his hands in the air.

The lazy boy had to put his hands in his ears to damp the sound a bit. He didn't understand why the boy had to scream while they were so close. Shaking his head, he made his way towards the hyperactive boy. "Yo, Naruto."

Naruto started grinning until he suddenly noticed something about the boy. He was wearing different clothes than last time. "What's with the green jacket, Shikamaru?"

The genius looked down and saw what the boy meant. He started to smile, because he knew that Naruto wasn't going to like this. "Oh, nothing important really. It's just a chuunin jacket."

"Oh ok." Naruto said with a smile on his face. He was about to walk past the boy when he suddenly stopped.

Shikamaru sighed. _'Here it comes, how troublesome.'_

Naruto quickly turned around and faced the lazy boy with an unbelieving expression on his face "What? Are you saying that you are a chuunin!?"

Shikamaru just shook his head. "I know that you aren't the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but you aren't that dense, are you?"

When he saw that Naruto was becoming very confused, he let out a sigh of frustration. He really thought that that sentence wasn't so hard to figure out. "Yeah, although it is very troublesome, I have become a chuunin."

Naruto couldn't believe it. How could that lazy bastard have become a chuunin, while he was still a genin? The guy had given up in the finals of the chuunin exams and he had won his match against the hyuuga prodigy. So why had he become a chuunin?

He turned to the lazy chuunin with a frown on his face. "When did you become a chuunin?"

"About a week ago, I think. Although I still haven't had to do any missions." Shikamaru answered while closing his eyes. He really just wanted to get away from here. Why did he have to run into Naruto out of all people? Just his luck. As if a cranky hokage wasn't enough for one day.

Naruto was still in denial. "But why did they make you chuunin, Shikamaru? You gave up in the finals and you are as lazy as hell. What did they see in you?"

Shikamaru wasn't sure himself, because he didn't think that he was ready for the job yet. He knew that he had the brains, but he was afraid that he was lacking the power. "They said that my strategic insight was perfect. And that seemed to be an important trait for a chuunin or something."

Naruto started to pout now. He knew that he had a lot of power, but he missed the intelligence to become a chuunin. Putting a smile on his face, he stretched out his hand. "Well, congratulations, you have earned it, Shikamaru!"

The black haired chuunin didn't know what hit him. Wasn't this the same boy who he had known for a long time? He was sure that the boy was going to freak out on him, but here he was holding out his hand to congratulate him. Shrugging, he shook Naruto's hand with a smile on his face. "Thanks, I guess."

"No problem, Shikamaru!" Naruto nearly screamed with a smile on his face. "You'll be a chick magnet now with that chuunin outfit, you know. It looks good on you and girls like men with power." Naruto started to smile very mischievously now.

"Don't you know how troublesome those girls are? My mom is bad enough, but Ino is even worse. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't want to get involved with them." Shikamaru said with a boring look on his face. He was hoping that the boy would finally shut up.

Naruto didn't know what was up with that guy in front of him. He seemed to have a dislike for girls. That couldn't be right? Girls were the most beautiful beings in the whole word. Okay, that wasn't true. Sakura was the most beautiful being in the world. One thought about the pink haired girl made him go to heaven.

Shikamaru didn't know what was going on, but the boy in front of him had a dreamy look on his face and to make it ever worse: he was drooling. Turning around, he began walking down the stairs. He didn't even want to know what he was thinking about and this was the only chance he was getting to escape. Using all of his ninja training, he went down the stairs in utmost silence. _'Sorry, Naruto, but I have other less troublesome things to do.'_

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a loud noise. He was sure that it sounded like glass shattering. "What was that Shika…" The boy wasn't there anyone. How long had he been daydreaming about Sakura? Shrugging, he started climbing the stairs. He was sure that the sound came from upstairs.

That's when it hit him. The hokage was on the top floor and he knew that the hokage had a lot of enemies. The sound of glass breaking could only mean one thing. The old hag was being attacked! He increased his speed and ran up the stairs. Luckily he was in good shape or else this would have taken a lot out of him.

Thoughts of Tsunade being killed began appearing in his mind and tears began to form in his eyes. He couldn't lose another important people. Raising his speed even more, he finally reached the door. Opening it, he quickly ran through the long hallway, leading to her chamber. _'Please be okay, baa-chan.'_

Getting a kunai in his hand, he quickly opened the door to her room with a swift motion. He jumped inside and quickly looked around. Inside he found a very confused and nervous Shizune, an irritated hokage and a broken window. "Where is the assassin, old hag?"

Tsunade gave her apprentice a confused look before turning to the young blonde. "What the hell are you talking about, Naruto? Have you been eating too much candy again?!"

Naruto was confused. There was nobody in the room but the two women in front of him, but the broken window was strange and why weren't they shaken from the attack. "I heard the glass break. That's the way the assassin entered the room, right? I can't see him anymore, so you must have killed him already."

This confused the two ladies even more. Shizune walked over to the godaime with a confused look on her face. "What is Naruto-kun talking about, Tsunade-sama? Do you think that he hit his head again?"

"I don't know, but it seems like he is being bratty and weird again." Tsunade replied with a frown on her face.

Then it hit her. He just thought that they were attacked, because he heard glass break. A smile came upon her face. They boy was a true ninja, although he didn't act like one most of the time. And she could see that the boy really cared about her too. "Naruto, don't worry. There's no assassin."

That got his attention. Turning to the hokage with a surprised look on his face, he could see the smile on her face. "What are you talking about, old hag?"

When he saw that she started to laugh a bit, he got a funny feeling in his stomach. He just called her an old hag two times and she didn't get angry at him. That couldn't be right. Suddenly an idea hit him. He could still remember how the enemies transformed into him to get the scroll during the chuunin exams. This being in front of him wasn't Tsunade, it was an enemy!

He ran towards the impostor with a confident smile on his face. Kunai in hand, he was ready to strike. Tsunade opened her eyes and saw the boy running towards her with his kunai. Her eyes widened and she quickly gathered some chakra in her hand. "What are you doing, Naruto?!"

"What do you think? I am going to defeat you and make you tell me where the real hokage is!" Naruto screamed while trying to cut the impostor with his weapon.

Dodging every blow, Tsunade was getting more confused and angry. What the hell was wrong with the kid? She was about to dodge another slash when she suddenly couldn't move her left hand anymore. Glancing to her side, she saw that her hand was being held by another Naruto. "He made kage bunshin too?"

A vein appeared on her head. She was starting to get very irritated now. She had other things to do and her sake was waiting for her. Shizune had made a rule that she could only drink her sake after work, so she had to get her work done quickly, but with Naruto being so stupid, she couldn't get a thing done. "Naruto, if you don't stop now, I am going to have to hurt you."

When the boy didn't stop, the woman used her monstrous strength to kill the clone. Naruto saw this too and took a step back. The woman began running towards him and was about to hit him when suddenly Shizune jumped on top of him, knocking him on the head while doing it. "Stop it, Tsunade-sama; you don't want to kill him, do you? How many times have I told you to control yourself when you get angry?

The busty blond stopped and calmed herself down. "I am sorry, Shizune, you are right." She then turned to the boy beneath her and gave him a glare. Naruto was sure that she was emitting a lot of killer intent and he knew that he was done for. "And as for you, I am not an impostor, you squirt! That stupid sensei of yours was being a pervert again, so I threw him out of the window! And why did you have to jump to conclusions, young man. If Shizune hadn't interrupted, I could have caused you some serious harm! "

Naruto's eyes widened and a blush formed on his face. How could he have been so stupid? The title of chuunin seemed very far away right now. "Sorry, I really thought that you were someone else. I wanted to show off my strength and I was kind of pissed that Shikamaru had become a chuunin. So I didn't think straight. Please forgive me, old hag!"

Tsunade sighed and sat down on her seat again. Why did she come back to this village again? First that Shikamaru was being a pain in the ass and now this too. Sighing, she shook her head. _'I really need my sake right now.'_

"Shizune, get off of him. I think that he has learned his lesson for now." The black haired woman complied and stood up again, helping the boy up while doing so. Tsunade then turned to the boy who still looked a bit dazed. "Let this be a lesson to never call me an old hag again and if you ever do something like this again, I will make sure that you won't ever become hokage, you got that!"

"But you promised me that I would become hokage." When he saw the vein on her forehead and the glare she was giving him, he shut up. Walking over to a chair, he sat down with a slight frown on his face.

Tsunade saw the pouting boy and couldn't help but smile. Somehow she couldn't stay angry at the boy. "You weren't doing too well there, kid. Maybe you should use this time to train, because you still got a long way to go before becoming hokage." She knew that this would only infuriate the boy, but he could use the motivation. Although she would never say this to anyone, she really loved the boy like a mother would love her son.

Naruto's face dropped even more now. Tsunade was afraid that she had hit a sensitive spot and was about to say something when the boy jerked his head up. "That's the very reason I am here, hag. I was searching for Ero-sennin. You just pushed him out of the window, so do you have any idea where he is?"

Tsunade, still a bit taken back by the boy's reply, started to frown. Just thinking about that stupid pervert made her mad. Why couldn't he just act normal for a change? Maybe then they could have a regular conversation. But she knew that it was too much to ask. "I am sorry, Naruto, but he will be out of the village for a while."

"Aww, where did he go?" Naruto asked with a disappointed expression on his face. He was really looking forward to training with the frog tamer.

The blonde sighed and turned her chair to look out of her window. "I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you. It is a classified mission. The only thing I can tell you is that he will probably come back in three or four months."

"That long! That sucks." The boy then started thinking while placing his elbows on his knees and placing his chin on the palms of his hands. "Can you train me for a while then?"

Tsunade was taken back by his request, but she also knew that the boy didn't have the chakra control he needed to learn medical ninjutsu. And hell, it was his only vacation in the year. He just needed to relax at a time like this. "I'm sorry, but I have other things to do. And you should just enjoy your vacation. Aren't there any other people who you can bug?"

When she saw the downtrodden face of the boy, she became a bit sad. Had she said something wrong? Shizune saw this too and walked over to the boy. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a warm smile. "What's wrong, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto sighed and replaced his sad expression by a happy one, although everyone could see that it was forced. "All of my friends are out of the village or too busy with work. So I have nothing to do in my vacation. I was hoping for someone to train me, but I guess that training is off the list too."

Tsunade sighed and walked over to the boy. "Just take some time off and relax, Naruto. A vacation is meant to enjoy."

Naruto puffed and let his head fall down. "I guess so. But what is there to do around here?"

"Well, you could go to the hot springs and you could go to the movies. There is a festival in the border town just north of Konoha too. So I could give you permission to go there one day. There is so much to do. Just because your friends aren't here, doesn't mean that you can't enjoy yourself." The old lady answered with a soft smile on her face.

The boy nodded, but even Tsunade could see that he wasn't feeling any better. _'Doesn't she understand that I don't want to be alone anymore? I have to get back to that lonely apartment every night and all of those years without friends have been bad enough.' _He was about to stand up when he heard knocking on her door.

Tsunade sat back down and let out a sigh. Why couldn't those people just leave her alone for a while? She still had a lot to do. After telling the boy in front of her to keep quiet, she turned to the door with her poker face. Being a gambler had its advantages sometimes. "Enter!"

The door opened, revealing a pretty tall and muscular man with brown hair and green eyes. Naruto figured that he was forty years old or something. The man didn't look like a ninja and he had never seen him before. _'Probably someone from out the village.'_ He walked towards the desk and bowed. "Sorry for interrupting, Tsunade-sama."

Naruto could see that the hokage got a smile on her face, so she had to know the man. "Welcome Ichigo, how are you today?"

The man sat down on the empty chair and gave the woman a handshake. "I'm great, thank you. So were you able to find someone for me, Tsunade-sama?"

The blonde sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to find someone for you. All the active genin are already busy with missions. It's too bad that there are so many talented genin having their vacation at the moment."

Ichigo sighed, but held the smile on his face nonetheless. "Don't worry. I know that you tried your best for me. It's not that I can't do it alone." He was about to stand up when a voice stopped him.

"Baa-chan, where are you guys talking about?"

Tsunade sighed. She had told the boy to keep quiet, but of course he wouldn't listen to her. Was here ever a time that he did…Sighing she turned to the boy. "This man here is the owner of the biggest weapon shop of Konoha. I am surprised that you haven't seen him before. You must have bought some weapons from his shop. But he needs to go to 'Karakuri village' to give some people an important object. These people are famous for their aggressive nature, so he asked me for someone to escort him. But we don't have any ninjas to spare."

Naruto suddenly started to smile and this confused the blonde a bit. "Then why don't you give the mission to me. I don't have anything else to do and I could use the money. I'm just bored out here anyways, so I could use this vacation to make some money. What do you say, baa-chan?"

Tsunade was lost in thought for a while, before looking the boy in the eyes. "Are you sure about this, Naruto?"

"Yeah, I'm sure baa-chan. I just want to do something useful for the village." Naruto replied with a serious look on his face.

Tsunade sighed, but nodded and turned to the weapon maker. "I can't change his mind anymore. Are you okay with this, Ichigo? He is one of the strongest genin in the village and I believe in him. And it is his vacation right now, so you could feel honoured that he wants to go with you."

Ichigo turned to the boy and gave him a confident smile of his own. "You look kind of weak, are you sure that you have what it takes, kid?"

Naruto stood up and pointed his finger towards the brown haired man. "You don't know how great I am, do you! I am the man who is going to become hokage no matter what. The strongest man in the whole village! Ask baa-chan over there. I am sure that she agrees with me."

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh when he heard that and saw the boy's face. "I don't know about your strength, but you sure are confident and you've got guts. I'll give you that. You know what. I like you, kid. I think that you will be more than enough to come with me."

Naruto didn't like the part where he doubted his power, but he was still happy that the man complimented him for his confidence. A smile came upon his face and he started to grin. "You know your stuff, old man!"

"I'm not old, young man. I'm not even forty yet." Ichigo replied with a smile on his face.

Tsunade just looked at the two and couldn't help but smile at the exchange. They only just met and they were already acting this familiar. "Well, looks like you guys get along well. Okay, I accept. Naruto your mission is to protect him and to help him with anything he asks. I expect to see you back at the end of the week, okay?"

Turning to the woman, he started grinning and made some kind of mock salute. "I'll keep the man safe from harm. I promise!" Seeing the reaction of the hokage, he smiled and turned to the man next to him. "Looks like you're stuck with me. The name's Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet ya!" He then stretched out his hand, waiting for the reply.

The man hesitated for a few seconds, before shaking his hand. "Kuroi Ichigo, nice to meet you too. I will be leaving in an hour, so if you can be there at the gates by then?"

Releasing the man's hand, he walked to the door of the room. "Sure thing, I am going to get my stuff and then I'll be right there. Don't leave without me, Kuroi-san."

"Call me Ichigo. Kuroi-san makes me sound so damn old."

Naruto nodded and left the room. When he noticed that Ichigo wasn't coming after him, he figured that he was going to talk with the hokage. Closing the door, he started to make his way down the stairs again. He had completely forgotten about them. He still had a long way to go. He suddenly lost his step and rolled down some stairs. "That hurt!"

After missing his step an additional three times, he finally exited the tower with a few bruises. Sometimes it wasn't handy to be so clumsy. He ran to his apartment and entered his home through the window. Grabbing his backpack, he started to get ready for the trip. He grabbed some kunai and shuriken, his swimming pants, a spare set of clothes, some scrolls to keep him busy and some food and water.

Looking outside, he saw that the weather was becoming better and better, so he decided to change into something more suited for warm weather. Putting his orange jumpsuit on his bed, he put on an orange shirt with some red letters on it. He cursed when he saw that he didn't have orange shorts, so he had to put on black ones. They reached to just under his knees. He decided to wear his usual ninja sandals, because they would be walking for a long time.

Closing his backpack, he still felt like something was missing. Glancing around the room, he finally saw what he had almost forgotten. He jumped onto his bed and reached out to get the picture that was standing on his nightstand. His lips curled into a smile when he saw the pouting Sasuke and him, the grinning Kakashi, and the beautiful Sakura.

Somehow he wanted to have that picture close to him. It reminded him of his bonds and he was able to see Sakura every time he wanted. Bringing his fingers to the picture, he touched the piece were the pink haired girl was. _'She's smiling so cute here. I wonder how she is doing. I hope that she is enjoying her vacation with her parents. You don't know how much I love you, Sakura-chan. But I don't know if I am ever going to tell you, because I don't want to lose you as a friend. You just mean too much to me.'_

Putting the picture in his backpack as well, he looked at his clock. He still had thirty minutes left. He started to smile, because that meant that he still had enough time to get something to eat. Leaving the apartment with a smile on his face, he started to sing: "Ramen, ramen, ramen!"

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After eating six bowls of shrimp ramen, he finally reached the gates of Konoha and he was surprised to find Ichigo already waiting for him. The man was holding something in his hands and there was a bag next to him as well. It looked like a white cloth, but something seemed to be wrapped inside of it. "Hey, Ichigo!"

"Took you long enough, Naruto. Well, let's hurry!" Ichigo replied with a smile on his face.

Naruto closed in on the man and couldn't keep his eyes off the white cloth. Being the curious boy that he was, he couldn't make the trip without knowing what it was. "So, what do you have there?"

Looking down, Ichigo saw that the boy was pointing to the object in his hand. "Oh this!"

He started to remove the white cloth with utmost accuracy and it revealed to be a long sword which was completely white. Even the handle was white and it had the form of a dragon. It was the most beautiful sword he had ever seen in his life. "That's beautiful, Ichigo! Did you make that one?"

Wrapping the white cloth around the sword again, he smiled at the boy. "Yeah, I finished it just two days ago and it took me a long time to complete. I think that the person, who is going to wield this sword, will be a happy man. Well, we should be going, Naruto. If you could carry the bag next to me, then I will carry the sword."

Naruto nodded and picked up the bag. "Sure, that's easy enough. But can't I carry the sword? It looks so cool!"

Ichigo started walking towards his destination and glanced over his shoulder to see a grinning Naruto. "Sorry, but I don't trust anyone with this sword. It was really hard to make, you know."

Naruto pouted before smiling. "You're no fun!"

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. He got the feeling that this was going to be an interesting journey. Somehow he got a good feeling with this kid. It was as if they had known each other for years. When he saw that Naruto was a bit ahead of him already, he increased his pace. "Don't walk so fast. I'm not as young as I used to be anymore, you know."

Naruto just smiled and continued to walk. His mind was still on the pink haired girl he was missing so badly. _'I can't wait to see your smiling face again, Sakura-chan. I will look forward to it.'_

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**AN**: Thanks for the great reviews guys. I hadn't expected this story to be so popular. 17 reviews in two chapters. I really love you guys:D

I did it again guys. I got you a long chapter, even without much NaruSaku. This chapter is Naruto based and there wasn't much NaruSaku in it. So it can be quite boring, but I tried to make it good anyway. Naruto was thinking about her, but she's not there, so I couldn't get you any fluff. Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough. Next chapter will have a NaruSaku moment and then the fun begins. I hope that I kept Tsunade a bit in character. She is one of my favs and is just like an older Sakura. And I hope that you like Ichigo. He will play a role in the coming chapters as well.

I hope to have the next chapter soon. I have to work tomorrow and it is my birthday the day after, but I will try to finish it today and tomorrow.

Please keep on reviewing, because it means a lot to me. One of the reviews from before showed me that I made some mistakes and I feel that I made my story better because of it. So review and tell me if you have some ideas. I might insert them in my story. And again, I didn't proofread it, so there will probably be some grammar and spelling mistakes, but please tell me if you find a big one.


	4. Day 3: Behind the mask

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then the show would be called 'NaruSaku, a beautiful love' by now.**

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**Day 3****: Behind the mask **

Opening his eyes, Naruto could see that he was in a big room with a bed, a television and a lot of books in it. He was a bit confused, because he couldn't remember falling asleep in this room. Looking around once more, he was able to see that the room was mostly pink. The bed he was lying on was pink as well.

Even more confused now, he decided to get up. He was only wearing some boxers and a white shirt. Setting his feet on the ground, he was surprised to feel something soft on the ground. He looked down and was surprised to find pink slippers on the ground. "What the hell? Where am I? Everything is pink here!"

He didn't mind though, because secretly he liked the colour a lot. Orange was still his favourite colour, but he has liked the colour pink for a long time now too. Ever since he saw a girl with a bundle of pink hair, he fell completely in love with the colour somehow. He just had to smile while thinking about his favourite girl. _'Sakura-chan…'_

Suddenly he heard someone come up stairs. So he was upstairs? He didn't know what to expect, so he put on the pink slippers and stayed where he was. His mind was still full of questions. Just where was he, why was everything pink and who was coming up the stairs right now.

The footsteps were getting harder and he knew that someone was coming his way. He wanted to get a kunai from his pouch, but when he tried to get one, he realised that he wasn't carrying it with him. Cursing himself, he looked everywhere for something to defend himself with. But he wasn't very lucky in his search. A fluffy pink fox had to do.

The footsteps were awfully loud now and then it suddenly stopped. That could only mean one thing. The person was standing behind the door. What if it were those guys from Akatsuki again? Jiraiya wasn't there to save him this time. Clenching his fist, he gathered all of his courage and waited for the best time to strike.

The doorknob turned and Naruto pulled back his hand with the pink fox in it. Maybe something as fluffy as that couldn't do any serious damage, but he was sure that he could throw it hard enough to startle the enemy. At least, that's what he's hoping for. Deep down he knew that someone like Itachi wouldn't be intimidated by a pink fox, but it was worth a try, right?

A small droplet of sweat fell on his knee, when the door started to open at a very slow pace. _'Not yet, not yet, almost, now!' _He threw the stuffed animal as fast as he could and quickly jumped behind the bed to form some seals. That was until he felt something land on his head. Grabbing the soft thing, he saw that it was the same fox he threw just now.

He was about to make the cross seal when he heard the visitor speak. "I didn't know that you liked stuffed animals, Naruto?"

His eyes widened. He knew that voice. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. There was something like an angelic tone behind it. Slowly standing up from behind the bed, he saw that he was right. Before the bed was standing his pink haired crush, Haruno Sakura.

"S…Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?!" He managed to stutter out while sweating like crazy. That wasn't just because the girl of his dreams was standing before him, but because she was wearing a bathrobe as well. And she had a very seductive smile on her face too. It was almost like a dream come true.

The girl took a few steps and sat down on the bed. She gave him a sweet smile and sighed. "I know that you just woke up, but please don't tell me that you forgot everything that happened last night."

Naruto saw that the girl turned to him with a pouting face. A small blush adorned her face as well. More confusion hit the boy now. What the hell was going on here? It was his summer vacation right? He was travelling with Ichigo to give someone his weapon, so how did he end up in a house with Sakura? And even more importantly: what did he do last night?!

He scratched the back of his head and tried to look everywhere but at her, while trying to say something. "I…I'm still a bit sleepy I guess. Can't you tell me what happened? It would be much easier that way, Sakura-chan?" The nerves were killing him and he just hoped that the girl would buy it.

The pink haired girl sighed and started to play with her hair. "You're still the same Naruto as always. I guess that it's a good thing, eh." Patting the empty space next to her, she gave him a smile. "Come here and I will tell you everything."

His heart was beating like crazy. Sakura bought his excuse, but now he had to go sit next to her. His Sakura-chan had never asked something like that. And what was up with all the smiles. She began doing it just before she left with her parents, but now she was doing it all the time. He knew that he should have liked it, but somehow he became scared.

The girl kept indicating for the boy to come to her. "What's wrong, Naruto? Don't you want to sit next to me?"

His head shot up and he saw the girl with a pouting face. He had never seen something as cute as this before. Gathering all of his nerves, he slowly stood up and made his way towards the bed. Putting his left knee on the bed, he quickly threw a glance towards the pink haired kunoichi. She was still smiling at him and now he was sure. He didn't care anymore that he didn't know what was going on. He just wanted to be close to her. He quickly made his way over the bed and sat down next to her with a nervous smile on his face. He was sure to let enough space between the two of them. "Sorry it took so long, Sakura-chan. I'm just not so sure what's going on."

"I know that you don't, but don't worry. I'll tell you." He saw the girl look down next to her and frown. What had he done this time?

"Why are you sitting way over there, Naruto? It's much warmer over here, you know? I don't smell, do I?" He then saw the girl getting a bit sad and he cursed himself. He had done something to hurt her once again.

Sighing, he turned to the girl again. "But I thought that you didn't want me close to you. You have hit me a lot of times before for that very same thing, you know? I think that I have learned my lesson!"

He was surprised when the pink haired beauty suddenly scooted closer to him. He gave her a 'what the hell are you doing' look and he became almost as red as a lobster. He really liked the way things were going, but could this really be happening? This was becoming too much for him. He tried to get away, but was surprised when he couldn't stand up. Glancing to his left side, he saw that the girl had grabbed his arm.

"Don't get so scared, Naruto. I'm not going to hit you, you know. I just want to be close to you while telling you this."

Naruto began sweating more and more now. Not only did the girl want to be close to him, but he was shocked by the sound of her voice too. It was something like the way he was talking while he was in his 'female' form. It was extremely seductive. And to make it ever worse: the girl was blushing. Knowing that going against Sakura, when she had her mind set on something, would be futile, he sat down again and sighed. "Ok, I'll listen, but please make it quick. I remember that I was travelling with Ichigo and I know that we arrived at the village we were heading for, but I don't recall anything else."

The girl smiled a beautiful smile and closed in on the boy ever more. "I will, so stop being so tense. You will understand soon enough, tough guy."

Sakura surprised the boy even more by laying her head on his shoulder. Turning beef red in a mere second, he snapped his head towards her. "Sakura-chan!?" He just knew that the girl wasn't herself. Something had to be wrong with her. He was going to push her away when she grabbed his hand and intertwined it with her own. "So, now I'm ready to start."

Naruto didn't know why, but somehow this calmed him down. He was actually very comfortable right now. "I was walking through the forest with my parents and I suddenly saw you with the owner of the weapon shop. I was very surprised, but happy nonetheless. I called out to you and we started talking. You told me that you had just delivered a sword to someone and was on your way back to Konoha."

He was surprised when the girl tightened the grip on his hand. "It was summer vacation, but I was really bored out here on my own. So I asked you to stay. After some talking with the weapon owner, you decided to stay with me and my parents. They liked you, so they had no problem with it either."

This confused Naruto a bit. It sounded too good to be true. Even her parents let him stay here. Didn't they hate him for the demon fox? He couldn't know for sure, because he had never seen her father before and her mother seemed nice enough, but he had never talked to her. He was brought back out of his own world when Sakura used her free hand to caress his leg. A gasp escaped his mouth, but he calmed down soon after that. His face was becoming even redder now.

"So you came back to the cottage and we had a lot of fun. We went shopping and swimming and you even took me with you to a festival. It were the best days in my life. I couldn't have wished for a better summer vacation. And then I realised something. My heart began pounding whenever I saw you and I started blushing too often for me to tell. I started to like you, Naruto." The girl lifted her head off his shoulder and gave him a smile. He could see that she was blushing too.

"So I asked you to come with me yesterday. Stars were filling the sky and the moon was shining down on us. I took you to the lake next to the cottage and we just sat there looking at the stars for ages. We talked about stuff and I really enjoyed myself. When I saw you then, I was sure of my feelings. I figured out that you were the one for me, Naruto. Sasuke-kun was just some stupid crush, who could never love me back. But you told me how much you loved me so many times. I can't believe that I've been blind for so long."

Naruto, who was fixated on the intertwined hands, turned to the pink haired girl next to him. She was smiling while looking up to the ceiling. A blush was still apparent on her face and he thought that it only made her more beautiful. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was his Sakura-chan really saying that she liked him better than Sasuke, that she even loved him?

He knew that he should have been the happiest man on the planet right now, but somehow he was petrified. It was just too good to be true. Nobody had ever told him something like that. When the girl suddenly turned to him, he couldn't help but smile. But when started to close the gap between the two of them, he couldn't control himself any more. If he had died right now, he wouldn't have had any regrets.

"And then, Naruto, I did this." Before he could say anything, she had pushed her lips against his. His eyes widened and he didn't know what to do. He was shocked. The girl of his dreams was really kissing him! He could feel her lips moving against his. It felt really good. Finally closing his eyes, he started to kiss her back and he found out that he really liked the feeling of her lips against his.

After a while they broke apart, because of the lack of oxygen. Naruto couldn't believe that they had only been kissing for such a short time. To him it had felt like ages. A blush was visible on her face and he knew that he was just as red as her. Still in a dreamy state, he wondered if he really had died and if this was heaven.

"I hope that you liked it, Naruto, because I sure did. But if you didn't li-MMM" Sakura couldn't even finish her sentence, because he had crashed his lips against hers once again. The pink haired girl gave in and kissed back with even more passion as the first one. Naruto pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "I love you, Sakura-chan!"

The girl brought her fingers to her lips and smiled. "I love you too, Naruto!"

He was about to lunge at her again, when he felt something hit his head.He was about to look up, but Sakura stopped him by pulling him towards her for another kiss. "What's that, Sakura-chan?!"

The girl sighed and gave him a smile. "Nothing important, Naruto. I must have forgotten to put out the water from the bath. I'll go do that soon. I just want to enjoy myself a bit more with the man I love."

Naruto couldn't believe it. This was really the best summer vacation ever. He could never have imagined something like this to happen. When he about to kiss her again, he suddenly felt a surge of power coming from above. This time he did look up and his eyes widened when he saw the source. Above them was the fox that nearly destroyed Konoha fourteen years ago, the demon fox Kyuubi!

'_**So you finally have someone you cherish, eh!'**_

Naruto could see the bloodlust in his eyes and it scared the hell out of him. He had looked the monster fox in the eyes before, but he didn't seem so angry that time. "How can you be up there, baka-kitsune?! You are supposed to be in here!" Naruto said while pointing to his stomach.

'_**You don't deserve love. Because of you I can't destroy and kill anymore. So I am going to make your life so damn miserable! That pinkie there looks quite delicious. I will start with her!'**_

The monster showed his fangs and lunged down to devour the pink haired girl. Naruto had to act quickly. He knew that they were no match for the fox. He still didn't know how that bastard escaped, but it didn't matter. He needed to get her away from here. Turning to the girl, he tried to speak to her, but his eyes widened when he noticed that his voice was gone. The girl didn't seem to notice the fox coming to her too. _'I can't let her be eaten. I have waited too long for someone to love me!'_

He now tried to grab her arm, but he went right through her. "What the hell?!"

'_**You won't be able to save her, kit. Just stay there and watch how I devour your precious love!'**_

"No please! Kill me and let her go, you damn fox! It's not her fault that you have been sealed within me. You should blame me and nobody else, do you hear me!"

He was begging the Kyuubi to spare her, but he didn't listen. He continued to close in to her and his mouth was already wide open. Naruto tried his best to talk to Sakura, but she just couldn't hear him. He couldn't stand this. The girl of his dreams was going to be eaten in front of him and he couldn't do anything to save her. And he had promised himself to keep her safe no matter what. Was that all a lie?

The fox was awfully close now and a sinister smile was apparent on his face. _**'Say goodbye to your friend, kit!'**_

"NO!!!!!!!"

He sat up and tried to control his breathing with everything he had. Looking around, he saw that he wasn't in the pink room anymore. He was actually sitting on some grass. His mind couldn't take it and he lied back down. Was all of it just a stupid dream? He brought one of his hands to his stomach and he molded some chakra. Luckily the seal appeared. Sighing, he was about to close his eyes again when someone kicked against his leg.

Looking up, he saw none other than Ichigo hovering above him. "You alright, kid?"

Naruto got up again and nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay now…"

Ichigo patted the boy on the back and gave him a concerned look. "So what happened?"

Sighing, Naruto walked over to a rock and sat down. The brown haired man followed him and sat down next to him. "I just had the nicest dream I have ever had, but then it changed into the darkest nightmare ever. And to make it real, I thought that it was all real. I was about to cry when you kicked me."

The two of them stayed quiet for a while, but Naruto was kind of glad that the man decided to not say a word for a while. He just needed some time to come back to the real world. Deep down he was so happy that Sakura was still alright. The kisses didn't happen, but at least the girl was okay.

After a while he was surprised when the man placed a hand on his shoulder. The man gave him an honest smile and he was very thankful for it.

They had delivered the beautiful sword this morning. The new owner of the weapon wasn't going to pay, just as Ichigo had predicted. The man had hired a few ninjas and they attacked Ichigo, but Naruto had managed to fight them off. He had to use the kage bunshin a lot and he was pretty drained. But at least they had managed to get even more money than they had asked for the sword after Naruto threatened to attack the man.

A new friendship had flowered between the two since then. They were now on their way towards a friend of Ichigo. The man had asked him to join him, because Tsunade had given him the whole week to complete the mission. Naruto decided to go, because he had nothing better to do anyway.

Sighing he looked up. "How long have I been out?"

Ichigo was glad that the boy finally decided to speak and released Naruto's shoulder. He jumped off the rock and stretched a few times before answering. "You suddenly fainted while we were walking. I guess that you were exhausted because of using the kage bunshin technique too much. You've been sleeping for more than four hours. It's almost 5 o'clock now."

Naruto sighed. "That long… But this isn't where I remember fainting. We were still near the village, but now I can only see forests around me." Suddenly it hit him. "No, don't tell me…"

The man started snickering and walked over to the boy to help him off the rock. Extending his hand, he gave the boy a warm smile. "Yeah, I carried you for a while. I wanted to arrive at my friend's place today, so I couldn't afford to wait."

Naruto took the man's hand and jumped off the rock. When he landed, he sighed. He couldn't bear to watch the man in the eyes. He was the one who had to protect and help Ichigo. It shouldn't have to be the other way around. How could he even call himself a ninja? "I am sorry, Ichigo. I will make it up to you, I promise!"

Ichigo shook his head and patted the boy on the head. "Don't apologise, Naruto!"

Naruto was shocked by the tone of his friend. He was about to say something when the man interrupted him. "You have protected me with your life out there! And although I'm not a ninja, I know that the kage bunshin uses a lot of chakra. So don't feel sorry for yourself, you hear me! You are a strong ninja and you showed me how much you care for me. I have just met you one day ago, but I feel like we're great friends already. Now push the depressing Naruto away and show me the confident, energetic, strong boy that I remember!"

Naruto's jaw almost reached the ground now. He had no idea that his friend thought about him like that. Almost nobody had done something like this for him. Tears were dwelling up, but he kept them back. He wasn't going to break down in front of his charge and his friend. He was too strong for that, right? Putting a smile on his face, he started to scratch the back of his head.

"Sorry about that, Ichigo. I needed that. Thanks a lot! You're right. Something like this isn't going to keep the great Uzumaki Naruto down for long. I am going to become hokage, so I can't let this get to me!" He made the nice guy pose and smiled even brighter.

"Now that's the Naruto I remember!" Ichigo said with a big smile on his face. "So, shall we start walking now? I think that we're almost there, so you can tell me the rest on the way."

Naruto nodded and grabbed his backpack. "Lead the way, old man!"

Shaking his head, Ichigo walked over to the boy and hit him on the head. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not that old!"

Bringing his hands to his head, he started grinning. "I know, but I like calling you like that. Don't blame me. I'm a bad listener. Talk to baa-chan and I am sure that she'll agree with me!"

"I feel sorry for Tsunade-sama…" Ichigo said before walking to the woods on the north.

The woods were dark, but Naruto couldn't deny that the trees and plants were beautiful. Seeing all of these new things, he couldn't help but smile. There were so many nice things to see in this world and if he hadn't become a ninja, he would have never seen any of those things…the wave country, the side villages, the magnificent forests and plains. And if he hadn't become a ninja, then he would never have seen Sakura as often as he did now.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the man in front of him tapped him on the shoulder. "What's wrong, Ichigo?"

"You kind of spaced out on me, kid. I was asking you what you were dreaming about." The man gave him a worried expression when he saw that the boy became a bit sad. "If you don't want to tell me, it's fine too. I don't want to push you."

Naruto gave the man a smile, which was pretty fake, and he shook his head. "Nah, don't worry, old man. I was just thinking a bit about something. I'll tell you about the dream if you really want to know. You're my friend after all and I hate hiding things from people. _'Because I have to hide something from my friends already, so I don't want to lie even more to them.'_

"Ok, tell me. Maybe it will help you get this off your chest. You seem really troubled because of it."

Naruto was really grateful. The man next to him was being a real friend and he didn't have much of those. "I was dreaming of a girl."

A mischievous smile came upon Ichigo's face now. "Aha, so you're having trouble with girls. Is that it?"

Naruto grinned a bit and started to blush. "Well, something like that. You see, there's a girl I really really like." He stopped for a second to grab something out of his backpack. Ichigo frowned at this, wondering why the boy suddenly stopped.

Naruto got out the picture of his team and showed it to the weapon store owner. "The pink haired girl in the middle is the one. She's called Sakura, and as I call her: Sakura-chan."

Naruto was too busy staring at the picture to see the surprise in Ichigo's eyes.

Naruto couldn't help but smile after seeing his pink haired friend again, even if it was a picture of her. "She is the prettiest girl I have ever seen. Her eyes are made of the most beautiful emerald in the world and her smile can make me meld. Her short pink hair makes her even more stunning."

Ichigo noticed that the boy stopped. He had a small blush on his face, but it was the look in his eyes what intrigued the man. It was serious, yet dreamy. "Her voice is angelic and I can't help but smile every time I see her. She's the type to always help others out and she isn't afraid to get hurt to protect her important people. There's almost nothing that I don't like about her."

Surprised, Ichigo continued to look the boys in his eyes. The boy wasn't just saying these things. He could see that he was really telling the truth. He was speaking with his heart. It touched him. "It sounds like you really love her, kid."

Naruto made a weak grin, before turning to the man. "Yeah, I think that you're right. Before I was placed in a team with her, I liked her. But what I'm feeling for her now is so different. When I see her cry, I feel like crying too. And when she's sad, I can't help but feel angry. She's really important to me and I wouldn't mind to give up my life in order to protect her."

"I feel a 'but' coming…" Ichigo mumbled with a serious look on his face. Ichigo saw the boy frown when saying this, but this frown was quickly replaced by a smile. The man was able to see it though.

"She likes another boy, Sasuke. He's our other team member and she is totally over him. She didn't give me the time of day when we became team seven, because she wanted to give him all of her attention. I have tried many times to ask her out on a date, but she declined every time without even listening to her. She just called me annoying and went straight to the bastard. And that hurt a lot. It made me feel terrible. Like I'm worth completely nothing, you know." Saying this made the boy feel sad once again.

"But Sasuke doesn't even see her standing. He just completely ignores her. And I have heard him call her annoying several times before too when she tried to ask him out. It makes me so mad when he does that. He's just treating her like trash and she deserves much better. But she just keeps on trying and he just keeps on declining. It's making her sad and when she's sad, I'm sad. So if she doesn't want to be with me, then I hope from the bottom of my heart that Sasuke will accept her. She deserves it."

A smirk came upon Ichigo's face. "It seems like you're really in love with her, boy. I've never seen anyone care so much for someone."

This confused Naruto a lot. "What do you mean?"

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Ichigo started to smile. He could see that the boy had thousands of emotions running through him at the moment. Naruto was like an open book. You just needed to look him in the eyes. "Sasuke is treating her exactly the same as Sakura treats you. Don't you see? But still you want to help her. That requires love, young man. You're willing to sacrifice your own happiness for her."

Naruto was lost in thought for a while. What the man said made sense. But still it wouldn't help him. Even though he loved her, she still didn't love him back. But somehow he didn't care. He just wanted her to be happy. He could live with being alone. As long as she would remain his friend, he would be content in life. "I just want her to be happy, old man."

Now he knew why the hokage called him 'the number one in surprising people'. The boy just never seemed to amaze him. But why did he freak out that much if he had a dream about her? "Then what happened in the dream, my boy?"

Sighing, Naruto turned to the green field that came in sight. They were finally exiting the forest. Inhaling the fresh air, he began to explain. "I woke up in a pink room and soon Sakura entered. I had lost all of my memories from the day before and I didn't know why she was there. She came to me and laid her head on my shoulder. She explained everything and then actually kissed me. She said that we had done it the day before as well."

"That doesn't seem like a bad dream, does it?" Ichigo asked with a confused look on his face.

Naruto gave him a grunt and looked down. "That was the good part of the dream. Then suddenly 'he' came in my dream." He stopped talking and brought one of his hands to his stomach. A pained expression was visible in his face.

"Kyuubi?"

Naruto's head shot towards the man. Any faster and he would have broken his own neck. "What…you know!?"

Naruto was even more surprised when the man started laughing. "I've known from the moment I first saw you in Tsunade's office. You've build up quite the reputation, you know."

"Then why did you allow me to go with you? Shouldn't you hate me just like the rest of them?" Naruto wondered out loud.

Ichigo walked over to the boy and ruffled one of his hands through his hair. "You're not the Kyuubi, kid. It's not your fault that the yondaime chose you to be the container of the fox. I see you as an energetic, amazing, nice boy of fourteen years old with girl trouble. I don't know why all of those people hate you. They're just a bunch of fools."

When he suddenly caught the sound of someone sobbing, he quickly looked down. The ground was becoming wet and the boy in front of him was causing it. Tears were falling out of his eyes like a waterfall. He was about to ask the boy what was wrong, when they boy crashed into him. "Thank you so much, old man! You don't know how much this means to me!"

"You're welcome, Naruto." He pushed the boy off him and wiped the lingering tears away. "So, what did that kitsune do in your dream?"

After shaking his head in order to get the sadness out of his face, he tried to continue. "Well, he said that I didn't deserve happiness and he attacked Sakura. I tried to warn her, but my voice was gone. Then I tried to get her away from there, but I couldn't touch her either. Then when he almost had her, I woke up."

Ichigo put his hand under his chin while thinking what the dream could mean. "So the fox doesn't want you to become happy, eh?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'm afraid that I will lose her if I tell her about him. What if I won't be able to control him and that he will attack her through me. What if he takes control of my body? I can't let him hurt her!"

Naruto was shocked when the man placed both hands on his shoulders while he stared him straight in the eyes with a hard expression. "I know that you can hold him back, Naruto. You're the strongest person I know. And I believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. You just need to believe in yourself."

Looking the man in the eyes, he couldn't find a trace of deceit. He was telling the truth. Clenching his fists, he gave the man a smile. "You're right again, old man. I promise you that I will hold him back no matter what. I'll never let him hurt her. Never! That's the promise of a lifetime."

"I'm sure that she will understand that you're not the Kyuubi either, my boy. Believe me."

Naruto started to smile even more now. _'I really hope so, old man, I really hope so…'_

Releasing the boy, he started walking again. "Now that we got you back on your feet, it's time to go. We're almost there. Come here for a second." Naruto complied and walked over to the man. "Do you see that cottage next to that forest over there?"

Naruto used his hand to block the sunlight. "Yeah, I see something that resembles a cottage."

"That's our destination, young man. Now let's hurry, because I could use a good night rest. And I don't mean sleeping on the ground. No, I mean a nice and warm bed. When you're having a vacation, you should use that to rest yourself, boy. And I haven't seen you resting very much. So the faster we get there, the sooner we can sleep."

His lips curled into a smile and he turned to the man. Pointing towards the forest on the right, he pretended to see something. "What was that, Ichigo?!"

The man fell for it and looked. When he didn't see anything, he turned again to face the boy, but to his confusion there was nobody there. "What the?" Knowing that the small boy was a ninja, he quickly turned to look at the cottage. His suspicion was correct. Naruto was running towards the cottage. "Wait up, kid!"

Glancing over his shoulder the boy gave the man a sly smile. "The last one to arrive has to pay the ramen when we get back!"

"Damn, you cheater. When I get my hands on you! Don't you know that I'm an old man?! I can get a heart attack because of this!" Ichigo managed to mutter between heavy breaths.

Naruto had to admit that the man was pretty fast for his age. For not being a ninja, he was putting up a good fight. The Kyuubi container wasn't using chakra to increase his speed, because he knew that it would be unfair, but when he saw the man appear next to him, he just had to smile. "Not bad, old man!"

The two of them gave it their all, but in the end they reached the cottage at the same time. Both of them were having trouble breathing and sat down on the ground. "I can't believe I tied with you, old man."

"Hehe, you shouldn't judge someone by their age. I've got a lot more experience than you. So what are we going to do about the ramen? Neither one of us lost…"

Naruto closed his eyes and was actually thinking. "What if we just split the costs? That's the best thing to do."

Ichigo nodded. "Deal, kid."

Naruto stood up with a devilish smile on his face. _'The poor fool doesn't know how much ramen I can eat…'_

"Let's go, kid. I can't wait to find myself a soft bed."

Nodding, Naruto followed the man to the wooden door. "Looks like a nice place, Ichigo. So, who's this friend of yours?"

Looking away, Ichigo began to laugh nervously. "There are actually two of them inside. And I think that you know one of them already."

"Oh, that's good to hear, I hope." Naruto said with surprise written over his face. After walking away from the door, he tried to look inside through the window.

'_I hope that this will go well…' _Ichigo thought while knocking on the door.

Naruto became a bit nervous now. He couldn't wait to find out who was there. He still wasn't standing in front of the door. Ichigo would introduce him soon enough.

Footsteps were coming their way and the door started to open. "Are you finally here? It took you long enough. Mom was getting worried about you."

Naruto's eyes widened. That voice! The door finally opened completely. The girl looked Ichigo straight in the eyes. "You told us that you would have been here early!"

_Angelic voice_

"Sorry, but the trip was longer than I had expected." Ichigo replied with a tired expression on his face.

_Beautiful emerald eyes_

The girl sighed. "Well, let's go inside. I'm sure that mom will be glad to see you, daddy!"

_Short pink hair_

The girl was about to turn around. "Wait, I brought someone with me. I think that you like to meet him, dear."

The girl turned to see who was there. "I don't think that mom will…N..Naruto? Is that you?!"

"Sa…Sakura-chan…"

The last thing he saw before blacking out was a bundle of pink hair.

Ichigo brought a hand to his face. "I knew that something like this would happen…"

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**AN:**Finally finished the next chapter. I'm sorry for the late update, but I couldn't get it done before my birthday. I hope that this long chapter of 6500 words makes it up to you. Thanks for the nice reviews, guys. I can't believe that you found the third chapter so good. You really made my day guys.

I think that this chapter was much better than last one. I managed to put some fluff in, although it was just a dream and I hope that you like the emotions that I tried to show you this chapter. It shows that deep down Naruto is really uncertain because of the fox and he is afraid that he will lose his friends because of it.

I hope that you guys like Ichigo. I tried to make him resemble an older form of Naruto. And did any of you guess who he really was. I tried to make it obvious several times. Next chapter will explain more on this. I hope that you guys liked the ending of the chapter.

Please leave a nice review, because I want to know what you think about this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope that you enjoy reading it too. I haven't proofread it again, so there might be spelling errors and grammar mistakes. I think that the next chapter will come tomorrow or the day after.


	5. Day 4: Waking up in heaven

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto would have beaten Sasuke in their battle**

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**Day 4****: Waking up in heaven **

"Good morning!" Ichigo called when he entered the living room of the small cottage. He saw one pink blur sitting on the couch and the other one was sitting on a chair. That was all he was able to see at the moment, because he was still pretty sleepy. The room was silent and he was bent on keeping it that way.

Walking past them, he entered the kitchen and grabbed a cup. He wandered towards the fridge and got out some milk. After that he poured the white liquid in the cup. "Do you guys want something to drink?" He asked the two sitting in the room.

When he didn't get an answer he sighed. He knew that they would bombard him with questions soon and he wasn't ready to answer all of them. And if he knew his family well enough, then this silence wasn't good. It was like the silence before the storm. Putting the carton with milk back in the fridge, he grabbed the cup and walked back to the living room.

Seeing an empty chair, he slowly sat down. After taking a few sips from his cup, he put it down and leaned backwards to relax a bit. He immediately became sleepy again. The chair had that effect on him. Or at least he wanted the other two to believe that.

After a few minutes of silence, he slowly opened an eye and saw that the pink haired woman on the chair next to him was glaring at him. Afraid that he was going to get caught, he quickly closed his eye again. He sighed in relief when the woman didn't start to scream at him. The woman must have missed his opened eye.

Then he opened his other eye to see what the other one was doing. The pink haired girl was playing with her hair with both feet on the couch. She didn't seem to be as angry as her mother. In fact, she even looked kind of happy. Either that or she was very good in faking her emotions. Closing the eyes again, he steadies his breathing, in order to make it seem like he was asleep.

"Dad, mom and I both know that you're faking it. You really shouldn't become an actor, you know."

Ichigo opened both of his eyes and sat up. Scratching the back of his head, he got a goofy smile on his face. "Busted…How could you tell?"

Turning to his pink haired daughter, he could see that she had an all-knowing expression on her face. "Well, I know that you always snore when you're asleep, so next time think about that."

'_Damn, that was stupid of me. How could I forget something like that__…?' _Ichigo thought while mentally hitting himself.

"And you opened both of your eyes to see my and mom's reactions." Sakura added with a sly smile on her face.

Ichigo's eyes widened. "How did you know that?! You weren't even looking at me."

Sakura sighed and shook her head before turning to her father. "Dad, I'm a ninja. I'm trained to see and hear stuff like that. Too bad for you, eh."

"Damn, I knew that I shouldn't have let you become a ninja. And now it comes back to haunt me." Ichigo replied with a smile on his face. "Well, at least you've become a good ninja."

The girl laughed a bit, before entering her serious mode. "Hardly, but that's not the point. I'm sure you know why we were waiting for you, dad."

Smiling nervously, he sat back down. He would have to play dumb to make it out of this alive. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He was surprised when his wife suddenly stood up. The glare had vanished and was replaced with an interested expression. "Don't lie to us, dear. It's yellow, orange and blue."

When the pink haired woman saw that her husband still wasn't relaxed, she let out a sigh and put a smile on her face. "We're not angry at you, but we just want to know what you were thinking. You know that this is our family trip. This is the only week in the year that we get to be together like that."

After seeing that smile on her face, he knew that he was in the save zone. He knew that his wife wasn't the type to get angry for something like that. She barked, but didn't bite. Putting a smile on his face, he turned to the two females on the couch. "I'm sorry, dear. It wasn't like I was planning all of this."

This got him two confused looks and he knew that he wasn't done yet. "After you two left, because I still needed to get some work done, I headed towards the hokage to see if she got my mission request. To my grand dismay, she wasn't able to find someone, because Sakura and the rest of the rookie genin had their vacation."

Sakura's mother got a worried look on her face now, while Sakura got an idea of what had happened. "But I wasn't the only one in the room with her. Naruto was there too and he asked to go on the mission. Tsunade-same didn't want to send him at first, but the boy insisted, so he got permission."

Sakura didn't know whether to feel happy or sorrowful. "Why did he want to go on a mission, dad? I mean, it is his vacation, right?"

Ichigo smiled and turned to the girl. "I don't know why exactly, but he said something about not having something better to do."

Sakura became sad after hearing that. The boy had told her that he didn't have anyone in the village to play or do things with. But wait. She knew that the boy didn't have any parents, but what happened to them? She would have to ask her parents. The boy was so set on going on a date with her before leaving and she just rejected him. Feeling very bad about herself now, she turned to her father again.

"He seemed really eager to go with me, so why wouldn't I, especially after hokage-sama told me that he was one of the strongest genin of the village." Ichigo finished with a smile on his face.

This shocked Sakura a lot. "What did you just say, daddy? He was always the weakest in the academy and always messed things up. And now you're saying that someone, no not just someone, the hokage of all people, said that Naruto was one of the strongest genin!?"

When her father nodded, she got lost in thoughts. When they were up in the trees at the meeting, he had told her that he had brought her back to the village. Would that be true after all? Didn't he make it all up? She could still see his face after making fun of him that day. He was really hurt by her words and she knew it, but being the bitch that she was, she was too damn stubborn to see further than meets the eye.

She was broken out of her thoughts when the man continued talking. "After the boy had left, I asked the hokage why she thought about the boy that way and it surprised me when she said that he was the one who had convinced her to become hokage in the first place."

Sakura's eyes shot open and she gave her father an unbelieving expression. "You're not kidding, right?"

Ichigo just had to smile after seeing his daughter's face. "No, I didn't believe it at first too. I knew that it was Naruto the moment I saw him and I knew of his reputation. And because of the thing…"

"Ichigo!"

Said man turned his attention to his wife and saw her moving her pointing towards his daughter. He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He had almost revealed Naruto's secret. He knew that it was forbidden to tell anyone and he knew that if anyone would tell her, it had to be the boy himself.

Sakura was confused by her mother's outcry. Why would people always react this way when talking about Naruto? She knew how he was treated and people always whispered things when she was walking with him. They were hiding something and she would find out.

"But hokage-sama the told me something interesting." This got the attention of the two pink haired females.

"She told me that Naruto had found her inside of a small café. He was travelling with the great Jiraiya-sama himself to find her." This surprised Sakura a lot. She had heard that name before.

"Who's that, daddy?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face. She hated it to forget something like that.

Ichigo smiled. "He's one of the three sannin. Tsunade-sama is one of them too. They were both trained by the sandaime. He is one of the strongest ninja alive and he's called the toad hermit as well, because he is able to summon frogs. He's got another reputation too though, although this isn't one to be proud of. He's the biggest pervert in the world."

Sakura's eyes shot open.

"_But it is true! I brought her back to Konoha with Ero-sennin!"_

How could she have been so stupid? The boy was telling her the truth this entire time and she had done nothing but laugh at him. The sad expression on his face popped up again and it pained her to no end. Bringing a hand to her heart, she could feel it breaking into pieces. _'Why am I such a heartless freak…?'_

Her mother saw that she was clenching her fist and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong, dear? You're awfully tense all of a sudden."

Being thankful for her mother, she gave her a small smile. "Well, he told me exactly what dad is telling us now, but I didn't believe him and laughed at him. It made him feel really sad. I knew that and still I kept on laughing. I'm such a bitch."

Sakura's mother sighed when she saw a tear falling on her daughter's cheek. Scooting closer, she put her arms around her to comfort her. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We all make mistakes in our lives. Don't let it get to you, okay?"

"But I didn't even apologise to him. And even then he wanted to go out to me. And I said no to that too! Don't you know how hard that must be for him? I hate myself. Mom, punish me, lock me up in my room, just do something!" Sakura said, being angry at herself.

Yuki sighed and released her daughter. "Sakura, he's here now. You can apologise to him when he wakes up, you know."

This seemed to get to the girl. Her eyes widened and a small smile came upon her face. "That's right, I totally forgot about that!" Her smile then faltered a bit. "But what if he's angry at me, what if he doesn't want to talk to me, what if he hates me? He didn't faint for nothing when he saw me, you know."

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'm sure that he will forgive you. I haven't been around the kid for that long, but I know that he's got a heart made of gold." She was surprised that it wasn't her mother, but her father who said it. Her father had never talked about anyone of her friends like that before.

Sakura was awed, but wanted some answers. "Why are you so sure, dad?"

Ichigo smiled when he saw the cute face of his daughter. "He has to be the most forgiving person I know. That's all. He's really something else, dear. Be happy that you have a friend like him."

Sakura didn't know that the man meant that Naruto had forgiven everyone for treating him like he was the Kyuubi himself, but still she was taken back. She thought back of all the times he was there for her. He had even saved her from that monster, Gaara. Sasuke even said that he had risked death to save her. Getting an honest smile on her face, she turned her gaze towards the ground. "Yeah, I'm really happy with him in my life. And I'm going to apologise, because I don't want to lose him."

"No, you want even more." Yuki added with a sly smile on her face.

"Mom!!!" Sakura screamed, while blushing like crazy. "You know that I don't think about him like that! I'm in love with Sasuke-kun!"

The pink haired woman shook her head and patted the girl on the head. "Sure you are, dear. But why haven't you said his name even once since leaving the village. And why are you blushing, dear? It's not forbidden to like more boys than one, Sakura."

Sakura, who was still beef red, sighed. "If is tell you this, do you promise to keep it to yourself. You too, dad?"

Both nodded with smiles on their faces and Sakura sighed. Her secret was out already. Was she like an open book or something? "Okay, you got me. I do like Naruto since a few days, but don't get me wrong. I still like Sasuke-kun too. I'm just a bit confused right now. I haven't felt like this for Naruto for a long time and suddenly I like him. It just confuses me a bit, you know. Who am I supposed to choose? I keep telling myself that I like Sasuke-kun more, but sometimes I'm not so sure anymore."

Yuki and Ichigo smiled at each other, before turning to their daughter once again. "Well, you just have to find out how strong your feeling are for him, dear. And after that, you have to make your decision."

"But he's going to go back to the village when he wakes up, right? So when can I find that out?" Sakura asked with a sad expression on her face.

Ichigo smiled, before turning to Sakura's mother. She nodded and patted her daughter on the back. "Well, if you and he both don't mind, he can stay for the rest of the vacation. Your father and I don't mind at all."

Sakura's head shot up and her eyes were wide. "You're not kidding?!"

"Nope, I know that you don't like to be here without your friends. This way you have a friend and you can find out your feelings for him at the same time. What do you say, dear?" The woman was just done speaking when Sakura jumped into her arms.

"Thank you so much, mom!" Sakura screamed into her ears.

Yuki smiled, because seeing her daughter like this made her really happy. "Don't get too exited. Naruto has to agree with this as well. Let's just wait until he wakes up, okay?"

Releasing her mother, Sakura nodded with a smile on her face. "Yeah, so when is he going to wake up?"

Ichigo frowned a bit before turning to his daughter. "I don't think he'll wake up very soon."

"Why?" Sakura asked with confusion in her voice.

"Well, we went to deliver the sword I made, to the new owner, but he refused to pay. Naruto fought the people he sent after me and protected me doing it." This caused two pink haired ladies to gasp. "He used some high level techniques doing it, so the boy has to be exhausted. He has rested after the fight, but not long enough to recover from something as tiring as that."

"But don't worry, Sakura. I'm sure that he'll wake up later today. He's a strong one. And he's a loud one too. You don't know how much that kid can talk." Ichigo added with a smile on his face.

"He reminds me a lot of you, dear." Yuki said with a smile on her face.

"I'm not loud!" Ichigo nearly screamed.

"Sure you aren't." The pink haired woman countered, while standing up. "I'll be in the kitchen if someone needs me. It's getting pretty late, so I am going to start dinner."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What, it can't be that late, right? I just woke up."

"Dad, it's almost dinner time. You have slept for more than fifteen hours straight, you lazy bum. I should introduce you to my friend Shikamaru. You two would make the best of friends, sleeping the whole day." Ichigo gave his daughter a glare for this.

'_Please wake up soon, kid. I miss you already…' _

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Naruto slowly opened his eyes. It was very bright, so he had to close them right away. The only thing he had been able to see was a window and some opened curtains. They were pink. Was his mind playing games with him again or something? Sitting up, he held one of his hands in front of his face to hold off the sunlight. Opening his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the colour pink. Wondering if this was the same dream of last time, he started to look around. The room had a bed, a television and a lot of books in it. Most of the stuff was pink, but some things were red as well.

Sighing, he pulled the cover off him. He was wearing the same clothes as last time he saw himself. Shaking his head, he crawled to the side of the bed. Looking down, he saw that the pink slippers were there once again as well. "How original…"

Putting on the slippers, he walked over to the window. His eyes were pretty used to the light now and he was finally able to look outside. The sun was very low and it was slowly getting dark. That meant that it was pretty late already. There were grassy fields as far as he could see. Still in a sleepy state, he was about to turn around, when something suddenly hit him. Those fields looked too familiar.

Blinking a few times in order to make sure, he looked over the plains again. He was sure of it. Thinking back, he could recall running over those fields with Ichigo. And the last thing he remembered was seeing the pink hair of his dream girl. Was all of that a dream too? Thinking about this, he wondered for how long he had been sleeping.

There was only one way to find out. He pinched himself hard and opened his eyes again. He was still there! This wasn't a dream. Then why, then why was he here? Why did this look like so much like his dream? Sighing, he walked back to the bed and sat down again. Maybe the fox was playing tricks with his mind.

Then it suddenly hit him. If this wasn't a dream, then where was Ichigo? And where was Sakura? Had he really seen her before blacking out or was it just an illusion?

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming his way. His lips curled into a smile, when he recalled the nice memories of his last dream. Up until now everything was going exactly the same, so he was hoping that the rest would be the same as well. He quickly hit himself on the head. "No, bad Naruto. Stop being such a pervert! That was just a dream."

Making himself comfortable, he awaited for the arrival of the mystery person. Was she really here? Would he finally see her again? A dreamy look came upon his face when he visualised the pink haired girl in front of him. He could still remember the shock he had seen on her face before blacking out. But that wasn't the only thing he had seen. It was only faint, but somewhere within those emerald eyes, he was able to see something resembling happiness.

The footsteps became softer again and he frowned. It was just someone walking past the room. Standing up, he started to walk towards the door. There was a big picture on it of some famous TV actress. This was the moment of truth. Slowly opening the door, he put his head through the opening to see if someone was there. When he saw nobody, he sighed and exited to pink room.

He walked down the hall and was surprised to find his shoes standing next to the door. He continued to walk until he saw another room to his left. Walking through the opening, he saw someone sitting on a large couch. It was brown, just like the rest of the furniture. It looked like a nice and comfortable place to be.

He scanned to room until he heard some noises. Turning his attention to the door on the other side of the room, he was surprised when someone suddenly walked in. But it wasn't just someone, it was his dream girl. It was Sakura!

The girl was holding a cup in her hand and her gaze was fixated on the floor. She was wearing a red shirt and black shorts. It was simple, but it made her look gorgeous. Her hair wasn't held back by anything and it was the first time that he saw her short hair hanging freely like that. To be honest, it made her look even more stunning. If that was even possible.

The girl, who he had missed so much, was standing in front of him and he wasn't going to let this moment go to waste. She didn't seem to have felt his presence, so he just had to make the first move. He just hoped that she wouldn't be angry at him or something. Putting a smile on his face, he scratched the back of his head. "Hey, Sakura-chan!"

He was surprised when the girl jerked her head up with a shocked look on her face. The cup fell out of her hands and it landed on the ground with a thud. It broke into pieces and the dark liquid was colouring the brown floor. An unbelieving expression was placed on her face, before taking a few steps towards the boy. "Naruto, you're awake!"

Naruto closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I just woke up. I sure had a nice long nap. I can…"

He was stopped mid-sentence, when the girl jumped towards him. His eyes shot open, revealing the pink haired girl right in front of him. He noticed that she was hugging him. A huge blush came upon his face and he could see that she had red cheeks as well. The girl was looking sad, though. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?! Did someone hurt you?!"

'_Always worrying about me, eh, Naruto.' _The girl looked up and Naruto was surprised to see a single tear on her cheek. "I'm sorry…"

This confused Naruto a lot. And that was a big understatement. What happened after he blacked out? Then it suddenly hit him. Could that stupid fox have taken control over his body? Did that monster hurt her!

He was about to ask her what was wrong, when the girl released him. She looked him in the eyes again with a serious, but still emotional expression on her face. "I'm sorry for not believing you."

Naruto didn't know what was going on. Why was the girl apologising? "What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?"

"When you said that you brought the new hokage back to the village, I didn't believe you and I even laughed at you. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." She then brought her eyes to the ground. "I hope that you can forgive me."

She didn't dare look up, afraid to see the anger in his eyes. The silence of the normally loud boy couldn't be good. When the boy suddenly started snickering, she became surprised and angry "What's so funny?!"

"I can't believe that that's been bugging you, Sakura-chan. I already forgot about that a long time ago. Don't let it bother you, okay. If I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same." Naruto replied with a big grin on his face.

He was again surprised, when the pink haired girl hugged him for the second time. "Sa..Sakura-chan? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, stupid? I'm hugging you!" Sakura replied with a big smile on her face. A slight blush was on her face as well.

'_**Great move you've made there! This feels really good!'**_

'_I hate to admit it, but I agree. But why isn't he hugging back. Was I too bold? Did I scare him? Or doesn't he like me anymore.' _Sakura thought with confusion on her face. She released the boy with disappointment written all over her and looked the boy in the eyes. She was surprised when she saw that he had a dreamy and unbelieving look on his face. "Naruto?"

The boy snapped out of his daze and brought his hands into a seal. "Kai!"

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Why isn't this genjutsu disappearing? This is the way to cancel it right. I hate it when something like this happens. The first time it's a dream and this time it's a genjutsu. It's just not fair! Kai!"

Sakura's confusion was replaced by two other emotions. Happiness, because she was happy that he had been dreaming about her. And anger, because she couldn't believe that the boy would think that this was an illusion. She knew that there was only one thing that would save the boy from himself. Clenching her fist, raised her hand and brought it down on his head.

"Ouch! Why did you do that, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura shook her head, but got a smile out nonetheless. "You're not dreaming and this isn't a genjutsu. I'm really here, Naruto. But have you really been dreaming about me? I guess that's a compliment."

Naruto's eyes widened. He wasn't dreaming? And this isn't some kind of illusion? It was just too good to be true. The pink haired girl didn't even hit him when he said that he dreamed about her, she even took it as a compliment. And she had hugged him twice as well. This couldn't be happing right? "If this isn't a genjutsu, then why did you hug me?"

Sakura just had to smile when she saw his confused expression. It looked so cute. Had she really overlooked everything about the boy? "Do I need a good reason to hug you, Naruto? I'm just glad to see that you're awake. You've been out for the whole day. And it looked like you weren't going to wake up for a long time. And I wanted to thank you for forgiving me."

"But if you didn't like it, I won't do it again." Sakura finished with a faked pout on her face.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I liked it a lot, I was just surprised. You know, I'm not Sasuke. You only want to hug him, right? I just couldn't believe it." Naruto replied with his hands in front of him.

Sakura let her head fall. Had she really come across that way? She had treated him badly before without even having a reason for it. But the good thing was that he said that he liked the hug. "Don't think that I can't hug you, Naruto. I know how I've treated you before, but that will all change. I want to say that you are important to me." She finished with a big smile.

Naruto couldn't believe it. Had she really said that? Did he hear her right?

Sakura was surprised when the boy suddenly hugged her with all his might. A blush came upon her face and she didn't know how to act. Her hands were tingling and her cheeks were burning. There was no escaping it now. She liked this feeling and wasn't about to let go. She put her arms around him too and let the warmth comfort her. When she looked to his face, she was shocked to find a stray tear. She released the boy and took a step backwards "What's wrong, Naruto."

The boy gave her a big smile, before turning around to wipe away his tears. "I'm just happy. This is the first time that someone told me something like that and it just made me want to cry."

Sakura was really taken back by this. Was she really the first one to say something like this to him? That's terrible! Putting a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a serious look. This wouldn't do. Naruto's face wasn't made to be sad. Naruto was made to smile. "Let's go to the kitchen, Naruto. We were just about to eat, so you should join us. My mother's a great cook, you know."

The boy nodded and gave her a smile. "Thanks, Sakura-chan, you're the best!"

She smiled back and they started to head towards the kitchen. When they reached the door, Sakura got a funny feeling in her stomach. She just knew that something was off. Opening the door in a swift move, Sakura saw her parents fall on the ground. "So you were listening in on us!"

Ichigo stood up and scratched the back of his head. "No, this is just a coincidence. Your mother and I were just coming to get you." He turned his head to see the yellow haired boy and pretended to be very surprised. "Naruto, you're awake!"

Sakura sighed and helped her mother up. "I expected this from dad, mom. But you…"

Yuki grinned and brought her face to her daughter's ear. "Sorry, dear, but I walked in when you guys were hugging, so I didn't want to but in. And you guys looked so cute."

Sakura became beef red again and a vein appeared on her forehead. "If you guys do something like this again, then I'm moving out as soon as we get home, you got it!" She walked past her mother with a big frown on her face.

"So, she's like that with her parents too. Scary." Naruto said to nobody in particular.

"She has moments like this, but most of the time she's as cute and gentle like she was with you." Ichigo replied with a sigh.

Suddenly it hit Naruto. He turned to the man next to him and pulled him towards the living room. This confused Yuki a lot, but she just shrugged and walked towards the kitchen. When Naruto finally released the poor guy, he turned to him with a unbelieving expression on his face. "So you're really her father?"

Grinning, Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, sorry for not telling you."

"But you told me that your name was Kuroi Ichigo. Should your last name be 'Haruno'?" Naruto replied with confusion written over his face.

"Well, that's true, but not completely. You see, my real name is Kuroi Ichigo, but after I married Yuki, we've decided to keep her last name, because she liked her last name. It had something to do with her hair. I didn't mind, so I decided to change my last name into 'Haruno' Ichigo answered with a smile on his face.

Naruto nodded, but still didn't get it. "But why did you lie to me?"

The brown haired man shook his head. "I didn't lie. I still use my own last name when I'm working. And this mission was to bring one of my swords to someone, so I used my own name. You understand now, kid?"

Naruto smiled and nodded. But then suddenly realisation hit him. That's the reason why he passed out in the first place. "Damn, if you're Sakura-chan's father…Shit…"

Smiling, Ichigo placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. I'm fine with you loving my daughter."

Naruto's eyes widened. "But….but, you know about HIM…" The boy said, pointing to his stomach.

The man nodded with a smile. "Yeah, and I know that you're strong enough to contain it, boy. I've seen how much you love my daughter and I know that you would treat her well. I like you and that didn't change, little man. I'm actually grateful that you love my daughter so much. I know that you have protected her many times and I just want to say thanks."

An honest smile came upon Naruto's face. He was about to walk past the man when he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't give up." Before the boy could answer, the man had disappeared. _'Thank you, old man.'_

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Naruto finally reached the living room and saw that everyone was already sitting in one of the chairs. Ichigo and Yuki at one side and Sakura at the other one. He sat down next to the pink haired girl, but accidentally brushed his arm against hers while doing it. Naruto was too busy sitting down to see the red cheeks of the girl next to him. Ichigo did see it however and gave his daughter a nice guy pose, what caused her to blush even more.

Naruto was surprised to see something green on his plate. He picked it up with his chopsticks and started to stare at it. "What's this, Haruno-san?"

The woman smiled seeing the boy fumble with his food. "First of all, call me Yuki. And that's spinach, Naruto. It's a vegetable. It's good for you, dear. Just eat it."

Naruto nodded and brought the green stuff to his mouth. A smile came upon his face and his eyes widened. "This is good, Yuki-san! You're a great cook!"

"Well, thank you, Naruto." Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head, when she saw that the boy had already finished his plate.

Sakura saw this too and shook her head. "Don't let it bother you, mom. He's always been like this."

"Huh?" Naruto asked with confusion on his face.

"Nothing, nothing!" Sakura said while waving her hands in front of her. "Just saying how fast you can eat."

The boy nodded with a smile on his face. "That means that I like it!"

Sakura couldn't help it. She just had to smile after seeing him like that. _'I really like him. I don't know why, but somehow I get the feeling that I want him to be more than just a friend.'_

'_**Just admit it already, girl. You're in love with him. After hugging him like that, he's the only thing on your mind and you're blushing the whole time. Hell, you didn't even had it this bad when Sasuke-kun almost kissed you!'**_

'_Yeah, you're right, I think. He just radiates so much warmth and it is so addictive. I don't want him to leave. He needs to stay!' _

'_**So you can have your way with him?'**_

'_Yeah…hey wait, no…not like that, you pervert!'_

'_**Just ask him to stay, like **__**mom said. That way there'll be enough chances to make him yours.'**_

'_But I don't know how I feel about Sasuke-kun now. I want to know that first. I need to sort out my feelings first. Just give me some time.'_

'_**Whatever you say, but he might be gone before you are ready…Just hurry, Shannaro! I want to hug him again!'**_

'_You pervert…'_

They all finished eating and Naruto and Sakura walked back to the living room. Sakura sat down on the couch again, leaving enough room for someone else to sit down next to her. Naruto sat down on the chair though. "So, what are your plans, Naruto?"

Said boy turned to the pink haired girl and gave her a smile. "Well, I guess that I have to go back tomorrow. So I hope that I can stay the night. I would have loved to stay longer, but I don't think that your parents and you would like that."

Ichigo walked into the room with a smile on his face. "You're welcome to stay, Naruto. You've helped me and my family numerous times. This is the least I can do to repay you. And this way I can get some spare time with Yuki. If Sakura agrees you can stay the vacation. What do you say, dear?"

Naruto hesitantly looked over to the pink haired girl. "What's with that look, Naruto! I don't just want you to stay; I'm ordering you to stay. It can get awfully lonely out here without friends and mom and dad are always busy, so you have to stay her to keep me company!"

'_How was that?'_

'_**That was perfect, girl. I like the way you mess with him. Just look at him, he's getting nervous because of your forwardness. Keep up the good work and you'll get your prize in no time!'**_

'_I don't even want to know what you mean with prize…'_

Naruto quickly put himself together and nodded. "Well, if you put it like that, then I don't have a choice. Thank you guys! This means a lot to me! More time with the beautiful Sakura-chan is always good!"

This earned him a blush from the pink haired beauty and a hit on the head. "Don't embarrass me like that in front of my father, you idiot!"

"Ouch, that's too much, Sakura-chan!" Naruto pouted. It was just the same powerful and aggressive Sakura as always…

Sakura had to hold back her laughter and thought of something sneaky. "Well, you deserved it! You better make it up to me by buying me ice cream tomorrow!"

Naruto was confused. The girl did hit him, but not as hard as she normally did. And what was that about buying ice cream? Was she hitting on him?! No…he must have heard wrong or something. Then suddenly he though of something. "One problem though. Where am I going to sleep?"

Sakura turned to the boy with a smile on her face. "Well, we only have two bedrooms. One of them is for my parents and I sleep in the other one. The couch is pretty small, so you can't sleep on that, so I guess that there's no choice. If you don't want to sleep in the kitchen, you're going to have to sleep with me."

Sakura didn't understand why her inner self began smirking.

Naruto's eyes widened. _'Sleep with Sakura-chan!' _

Before she could say something else, Naruto fell out of his chair. Sakura jumped up from the couch and sat down next to the boy. Blood was coming out of his nose and he looked like he was the happiest man on earth, although he was out cold. "Naruto?!"

Ichigo put one of his hands in front of his face and shook his head. The girl had no idea what she had just said…

Sakura tried to wake the boy, but it was no use. Why would the boy faint like that after hearing those words? _'Wait…I did say that he had to sleep on a mattress on the ground, didn't I…'_

'_**Haha, you wish, girl!'**_

'_Damn…'_

'_**Well, look at the bright side. He must find you attractive! **_

'_You pervert…'_

'_**So true!'**_

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**AN:** I'm sorry for the late update, but I'm really busy. I think that this is the last long chapter. If I want to get this story done in time for the contest, then I have to make the chapters shorter, but don't fret. They are together now, so now the fun and fluff can start. So the chapters will get shorter, but hopefully the NaruSaku moments will make up for it.

Hope you guys liked the chapter. Not much happened in it, it was mostly dialogue between Sakura and her parents. I hope that you like Ichigo and Yuki too. Ichigo is kind of like Naruto sometimes:D Sakura is now really feeling in love with him. She still needs to settle her feelings for Sasuke, so we're not there yet, but most of that will be cleared next chapter.

Things may be moving a bit fast from Sakura's side, but when a girl gets a crush on someone, they act kinda fast. She lost all rationality when she fell for Sasuke too. And sakura just found out some time ago that she likes him, so she's moving kind of fast and with a pervert in her head rooting her on, it's even worse…

Thank you guys for the reviews! I hadn't expected that you guys liked the last chapter so much!! hugs all of his reviewers And I am confused that many of you hadn't expected Ichigo to be her father. I thought that I had given it away earlier in the chapter.

Keep reviewing, because it really makes me happy:)

Next chapter will be there very soon. I don't have a choice;)


	6. Day 5: Love is in the air

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Sakura would own everyone**

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**Day 5****: Love is in the air**

"Where…where am I?" Naruto said after bringing one of his hands towards his head. It was hurting like hell. He woke up after hearing some kind of growling. The noise became harder and harder and he was getting tired of it. But somehow he couldn't help but feel that he had heard that sound before…

Opening his eyes, he could see that he was lying in some kind of sewer. He put his hand on the ground to help him stand up, but he was surprised when he saw that there was a layer of water on the ground. "Damn, how in the world have I ended up here once again?!"

Standing up, he walked towards the sounds that were coming from deep within the dark dungeon. Taking a left turn, he finally ended up at the source of the growling. Before him was the big gate. Looking up, he could see that the red chakra was taking form.

'_**Welcome to my 'home', kit!'**_

Naruto had to take a step back when he heard what tone the beast used. "Hey, don't blame me. I didn't want you inside of me either. Blame the yondaime. He's the one who cursed both of us."

'_**Yes, but you are guilty as well. Without you I could have been free by now. So, I'm going to make you suffer!'**_

"You can make me suffer all you want. I'm much stronger than you anyway, so try all you want, you baka-kitsune!" Naruto replied with a confident expression on his face.

'_**Confident are you…Well, what will you do when I **__**get one of your friends?! I only need one second of control and I can kill any one of your important people, kit!'**_

"I have friends now who will help me through everything! I will protect them with my life, so you won't get a chance to hurt them! I will die before I let you hurt them!" Naruto screamed back.

'_**As long as you are my container, you will never be accepted. Your pink haired friend will be the same as the rest. When she finds out about me, she'll slap you and run away! It's only natural though. Everyone hates monsters!' **_

Naruto fell on his knees and tears began to form in his eyes. "No, you're lying! Sakura-chan isn't like that, you monster!"

'_**Are you really sure? Th**__**en why don't you have the courage to tell her, eh! You are scared that she is going to leave you, isn't that right!'**_

Naruto didn't know how to answer this. "It's not the right time yet. I'll tell her eventually."

'_**She's going to leave you, kit. Just like the rest of them. Count on it!' **_

The demon fox retreated himself in his cage while laughing maniacally. _**'You'll never be loved, you'll always be alone. It's your destiny!'**_

Naruto's eyes shot open and he saw that he was in the pink room again. It was the same room he woke up in the day before. There was one slight difference though. He was lying on the pink carpet and not on the bed. Getting his breathing under control, he slowly sat up. These nightmares, with the Kyuubi in it, were getting more frequent and it wasn't helping him. A good night sleep was something that occurred rarely lately.

Hearing some muffled breathing on his left, he turned his face to see what was causing it. His eyes widened when he saw his pink haired friend on the bed. His surprise was quickly replaced by something else though. She just looked so happy and safe under those pink sheets and it made him content. _'So that's what she meant by sleeping with her…I should have known. I'm really turning into a pervert…Thanks a lot, Ero-sennin.'_

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There was the sound of sneezing just outside the hot springs of the village of Konoha. Wiping his nose, Jiraiya let out a big grin. "This can only mean that some hot girl is thinking or talking about me."

Shrugging, he grabbed his book and started taking notes. A blush and a small nosebleed were visible on his face. "This village's girls are the best!"

"What are you doing here, Jiraiya!?" A voice from behind him called.

The frog hermit recognised that voice and slowly turned around. His eyes widened in fear when he saw who was there. Quickly turning around, he tried to run away as fast as possible, but it was too late. His long white hair was grabbed and there was no way to escape anymore. "Please, Tsunade, I was just doing research, while I was taking a break from my mission!"

The woman didn't seem to care and she brought her fisted hand back. "Just shut up, you pervert. Continue your mission and if I ever see you here again, you're going to lose your head!"

"Tsunade, I'm sure that we can talk about this." Her fist was brought forward and before he knew it, he was flying off into the distance.

"Jiraiya is flying off again!!!"

It was the last thing she heard, before the hokage of Konoha walked towards the hot springs with a sinister smile on her face. "Now I can enjoy my sake in peace!"

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While he was examining the pink beauty before him, he couldn't help but smile. A stray pink hair was over her eyes and he could see that it was bugging her, because a slight frown appeared on her face. There was some sweat on her forehead as well. He figured that it was because of the heat. Using his right hand, he removed the pink hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He accidentally touched her forehead while doing this. When the girl started to smile after this, he let out an honest one of his own.

What he would do to see this every day…

Standing up with a smile, he walked over to the door. He had to be careful to not fall over something, because Sakura apparently wasn't the type to keep everything in place. Clothes and pieces of paper were lying everywhere. Sighing, he threw his gaze unto the beautiful girl one more time. "Sweet dreams, Sakura-chan."

He closed the door without making a noise and entered the bathroom. He was still pretty sleepy and didn't want to do something wrong. Brushing his teeth was out of the question, because he knew that he didn't have a toothbrush over here. And when someone else found out that he had used his/her toothbrush, then he would be in for a lot of pain.

Shaking his head, he turned on the water and then he splashed some of it in his face. This worked like a charm. The water was icy cold and his eyes shot open right away. Grabbing the washing cloth, he cleaned his face and his intimate parts. If there was one thing he had learned from Iruka, it was that a boy needed to keep himself clean.

Quickly putting on the same clothes, he walked out of the bathroom. The house was still pretty dark and he could see that the lights weren't off yet. That could only mean that everyone was still asleep. He didn't mind, because he was always the first one to rise when he had some free time on his hands.

Walking to the kitchen, he opened the fridge and grabbed a sandwich and some milk. He poured the white liquid in a cup and then drank it up in one go. He then opened one of the cupboards and found his favourite jar in there: peanut butter. He put the brown stuff on the sandwich and the cleaned the knife he used to do it.

Putting the food in his mouth, he quickly headed towards the exit. He was about to open the door, when a hand stopped him. Turning around, his eyes widened and he fell on his behind. It was terrible. In front of him was standing some kind of monster with green eyes, a towel on his head and his face was completely white.

He was about to throw a punch, when he took a better look. It wasn't long, but he was able to see a stray of pink hair underneath the towel. Pink hair wasn't something that was very common in the world. "Yuki-san?"

The woman moved her hands towards her eyes and removed the pieces of green. "Why do you look so scared, dear?"

"I hope that you don't hate me for saying this, but you kind of looked like a monster just now. It really freaked me out." Naruto replied while rubbing the back of his head.

The pink haired woman started to laugh and removed the towel from her hair. "Sorry, Naruto. I do this to keep myself young. You don't think that I look like this because of healthy food or something. Don't you think that I look ten years younger now? This method really works. I have to thank Tsunade-sama for teaching it to me." She then pointed towards her face with a big smile on her face.

Naruto didn't understand and frowned. To be honest, he thought that nothing had changed. "Well, I can't really say that you look different than yesterday, Yuki-san…"

The pink haired woman flinched and Naruto could see that a vein appeared on her forehead. He took a few steps backwards and gave the woman a nervous smile. He had said something wrong again. She looked exactly the same as Sakura when she got angry. She had clenched her fists and the look in her eyes scared him. Quickly thinking about something, he started to wave his hands in front of him in order to defend himself. "But you still look beautiful."

This seemed to calm the woman down, because her eyes went back to normal and a small blush came on her face. "Do you really think so, Naruto?"

The boy smiled, because he knew that his plan was working. Giving the woman a nice guy pose, he turned around to open the door. "Yeah, I can only hope that Sakura-chan will become as beautiful as you someday."

When the woman's blush became even greater, he started to laugh softly, but he made sure that the woman behind him didn't hear it. He couldn't believe that she was falling for this. Sakura was already far more beautiful than her mother in his eyes, but there was no way in the world that he was going to say that out loud. And this way her mother would like him even more. A devilish smile came upon his face for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by a serious one. "Well, I need to go, Yuki-san. I'll be back later in the morning. I already ate breakfast, so you don't have to wait for me. Bye!"

The pink haired woman shook her head and got out of her daze. "Wait, where are you going, young man?"

The boy glanced over his shoulder and gave her a smile. "Training!"

The boy had already disappeared into the trees, before she could say anything else. A smile came upon her face. Closing the door, she headed back to her bed while yawning. Looking towards the clock, she could see that it was only six in the morning. That boy was out of his mind to train at this hour. Yawning, she headed towards her bedroom, where her husband was still snoring. Lying down, she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

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Sakura shot up from her bed with sweat covering her forehead. Looking around, she could see that she was in her own room. Using her pyjamas, she wiped away the sweat. She had been dreaming a very weird dream this night. The first part of the dream was the same as last times. She would end up getting lost in the darkness of the night and then she was attacked by that Gaara freak again.

She was about to get killed again, when she suddenly felt something warm touch her forehead. She didn't know what it was, but suddenly the sun came up and the light destroyed the darkness. The light caused the sand, which was wrapped around her, to vanish and the red haired boy fled right after that.

She wondered what that feeling on her forehead was. It was warm, gentle and it made her feel safe for some kind of reason. Shrugging, she looked at the time. It was already ten in the morning. How long had she been sleeping? She knew that it was summer vacation, but sleeping this long just wasn't right. She had so much to do and with Naruto here, things could only get better.

She was about to wake up the boy on the ground, when she saw that he was already gone. Raising an eyebrow, she looked beneath her bed. There was always the possibility that he had rolled in his sleep. But when she saw that he wasn't there either, she got worried. She always thought that the boy was a hard one to wake up.

She exited the room and walked towards the living room. What she saw after entering the room confused her. Her father was watching television with his feet on the table. This was something like his morning ritual. But her mother on the other hand was cleaning the room. This isn't what confused her though. It was the look on her face what scared the pink haired girl. Her mother was the type who hated to clean, but here she was smiling when doing it. That couldn't be right…

She wasn't a ninja for nothing, so she knew that she had to be careful. This could be some kind of trick. An enemy could have performed a genjutsu or he could have manipulated her parents. Shaking her head, she walked towards her mother. She was sure that she was overreacting. Passing her father, she gave him a smile. "Good morning, daddy."

"Morning…" Was all the man said. He was trying to see right through her, because she was standing in front of the television and he wanted to see what was happening in his favourite show.

So far everything looked alright. When she finally reached her mother, she gave her a pad on the back. "Good morning, mom."

The pink haired woman turned around with a big smile on her face. Sakura almost fell over, because of the smile. "Why are you so happy?!"

Her mother continued to clean, while answering: "Oh, I didn't know that I'm so happy. It's just such a beautiful day, so why wouldn't I be happy."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Okay….So; do you know where Naruto is right now, mom? He wasn't in our room anymore when I woke up."

This seemed to catch the pink haired woman's attention. She turned around and gave her daughter a dreamy look. "Oh, you mean Naruto-kun! He left early in the morning."

'_Since when does she call him Naruto-kun?!' _Sakura thought while getting very confused. "Where did he go? I wanted to take him to the village today, so I need to find him fast. Or else it will be too late."

The woman smiled and turned around again. "He went off to train in the woods. He said that he would come back later, but I don't think that he'll be back soon. He had this really serious look on his face and I think that he's going to come back later today."

Sakura sighed. "Well, I guess that I have to go look for him. He still has to buy me ice cream and I'm hot right now, so I want my ice cream today! He's not going to get away with this." Quickly running towards the bathroom, she turned on the shower. Disposing her clothes, she stepped under the cold water and washed herself.

She brushed her teeth and combed her hair and she had done all of in less than fifteen minutes. This was extremely hard for a girl, so she was pretty proud on herself. She put on a green shirt with a red skirt and black boots. She had to admit that it looked better than her usual outfit, but it wasn't really handy when having a mission.

She ran past her parents and said goodbye. She ran towards the woods and wondered where the boy was. When she heard the sound of a tree falling down, her eyes widened. The large tree came her way and was about to hit her when she saw an orange blur appear in front of her. "Naruto!"

The boy made the cross seal and ten clones appeared. They stopped the tree from falling and threw it aside. The clones disappeared after this and Naruto turned around to face the pink haired girl. Rubbing the back of his head, he started to smile when he saw her pretty face. "Hey, Sakura-chan, sorry about that. I guess that my training was getting a bit out of hand."

"How did you manage to make a tree fall down?" Sakura asked, still a bit dumbfounded.

Naruto started grinning and walked over to the pink haired girl. "I was practicing my new technique and I guess that it got a bit out of control. I need to focus my energy better, so I can determine better to which direction the tree is going to fall."

The girl nodded. "What new technique did you learn, Naruto. Did you learn it after the chuunin exams?"

"Yeah, Ero-sennin thought it to me. He may be a pervert, but the man knows his stuff. Here, let me show you. It's really awesome."

He made the cross seal once again after this and one kage bunshin puffed into existence. The real one stretched out his hand and the clone started to move his hands above the palm of the real one's hand. Sakura's eyes widened when a ball of chakra started to form in the hand. "This is the rasengan, Sakura-chan."

He then turned to a tree and pushed to ball into it. "Rasengan!"

Sakura was amazed when she saw that the ball of chakra went right through it. The tree fell down, but the other way this time. Giving the boy an incredulous look, she stared at him wide eyed. "That's so cool, Naruto. I think that it's as strong as the move Sasuke-kun used in the finals against Gaara."

Naruto was too busy grinning, so that he missed the blush that was upon her face. She was really taken back. She had already admitted to herself that she liked the boy, but now he showed her that he actually really powerful as well. And this made him even more perfect. And it wasn't helping that his biceps weren't covered by something. He was wearing a shirt with short sleeves, so his muscles were clearly visible.

'_**Oh my god! I can't restrain myself anymore! I want to feel those arms around me! Shannaro!'**_

Naruto finally turned to the girl and was surprised to see that she was staring at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. He immediately became beef red and started to scratch the back of his head. He glanced over his shoulder to see who was behind him, but when he saw that nobody was there, he became even redder. She was staring at him!

He was about to say something when his eyes widened. It couldn't be true. He blinked a few times to make sure, but it was still there! The pink haired girl in front of him had a bit of drool at the side of her mouth. _'Oh my god! This can't be happening, right!?'_

Shaking his head, he moved his left hand towards the bit of drool and removed it with his thumb. The pink haired girl didn't seem to expect this, because the moment he did it, she screamed and brought back her fist. Before he could even react, she hit him right in the face. The boy went flying and stopped after hitting a tree. "Damn, you're still powerful, Sakura-chan…"

Sakura blinked two times and realised what she had done. She ran over to the boy and helped him up. Her face was beef red and she removed the dirt from his clothes. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I was lost in thought and your touch scared me a bit."

"Don't worry, but at least give me a warning next time, Sakura-chan!"

The girl stuck out her tongue and she gave the boy a playful hit on the head. "Come on, Naruto. Let's go to the village close to this place. I know some awesome shops over there and I'm sure that we'll enjoy ourselves."

Naruto couldn't believe it. The girl of his dreams was actually asking him to go with her. This was kind of like a date. There was only one thought on his mind. _'The world must be coming to an end…' _He nodded and this earned him a beautiful smile from the pink haired girl.

"Well then, let's go!" Sakura said before running towards the small village with Naruto not far behind her.

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Yuki finally sat down after cleaning the entire cottage. It was already getting dark and the two young ninjas were yet to return. She knew that she didn't have to worry about them, but her motherly instinct was bugging her. Somehow she hated it when her daughter stayed out this late. It had happened many times before, because of her life as a ninja, but somehow she just couldn't get used to it.

She was surprised when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see that it was her brown haired husband. "Don't worry, Yuki. Naruto is with her too. They probably just forgot about the time. They are ninjas. I think that they can handle themselves even better than we think."

The woman calmed down and gave her man a smile. "I don't know what I would do without you, dear." She embraced him and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. Ichigo pulled her closer and deepened the kiss even more. When he heard his wife moan, he started to smile. He loved to have this kind of control over the woman he loved. Even after so many years, he still loved her as much as ever.

They were so lost in the moment, that they didn't hear the door open. "Eew! Get a room! There are more people living here, you know?!"

They quickly broke apart and turned towards the voice. Sakura was giving them a disgusted look, while Naruto was grinning. Naruto was carrying some bags in his hands as well. Both of the kids had traces of ice cream on their faces, so Ichigo figured that they had just got ice cream.

The two parents were surprised to see that Naruto was wearing different clothes. Ichigo walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nice outfit, man!"

He was wearing an orange shirt with a red dragon on it. His shorts were black with red dragons on it too. "Thanks, old man. Sakura-chan took me shopping in the small village to the north and it was great! She took me into many different shops and the people there were so nice to me! So we both bought some new clothes!"

Naruto just had to blush when he remembered what happened. Sakura said that she needed new clothes too and she had dragged him inside several clothing stores. He now knew why everyone complained about women when the where shopping, but somehow, he didn't mind at all.

The pink haired girl had tried on several clothes and showed herself in them. She had then asked him if they looked good on her. This went on all day and it had caused him to get quite a few nosebleeds. The girl was beautiful in everything she wore, but some clothes made her even more stunning than she already was.

Naruto thought this was a good time and he put the bags on the ground. He searched through them and smiled when he found a silver bag. He got it out of the other bags and walked over to the pink haired girl, who gave him a confused look. "I don't remember that bag."

The boy gave her another smile and held out the bag. "It's a gift. You've been so nice to me today, so I wanted to thank you."

"Aw, you didn't have to do that, Naruto." Sakura said while grabbing the gift. She was about to say something else, when she saw what was inside. After blinking a few times to make sure, her head shot up in shock.

"I knew that you would like it!" Naruto said while putting both of his hands behind his back.

Sakura finally regained her composure and shook her head. "No, I can't accept this, Naruto. This is too much!"

The boy walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You deserve it, Sakura-chan! I wanted to give you a nice gift and I'm not returning it. And you know how stubborn I can get. So just try it on! I'm sure Ichigo and Yuki-san want to know what it is too!"

The pink haired girl next to him gave him a heart-warming smile before grabbing the bag and running to her bedroom.

Ichigo walked towards the boy and gave him a curious face. "She sure seemed happy. Just what did you buy her, son?"

"Just wait. I'm sure that you'll be amazed as well, Ichigo!" Naruto replied with a smile on his face.

They waited for a while and turned towards the bedroom when they heard the door open. The pink haired girl walked out of the room and Naruto's jaw almost reached the ground. His eyes almost popped out and he had to restrain himself from hugging her.

"Look what Naruto bought me, mom!"

She was wearing an emerald green dress that looked great with her pink hair and green eyes. It was a pretty short dress, because it stopped right under her knees. There were cherry blossoms all over the dress and it showed her curves at just the right places. It looked like the dress was made for her. Naruto could only use one word to describe her right now: perfect.

Ichigo wasn't faring much better than Naruto at the moment. He couldn't believe how good that dress looked on his daughter. There was one thing that bothered him a bit though. He didn't know that his daughter was so well-developed already. He could still remember his little flower, when she was playing in the grassy fields.

Her mother stared at her with dreamy eyes, before giving her a hug. "Wow, you look beautiful, dear! This must have been expensive!"

Sakura took a few steps back and nodded with a big smile on his face. "Yeah, it was very expensive, but I liked it very much. Naruto agreed with me and said that the dress was made for me, but I didn't have enough money to buy it…"

She then turned to said boy with a big smile on her face. The boy was looking at her with a dreamy look as well and she could see that he was at the point of getting a nosebleed as well. She wasn't the perverted type of person, but somehow she felt flattered.

'_**Score!'**_

She surprised the boy by jumping towards him. She put her arms around his waist and placed her head on his shoulder. This looked kind of silly, because she was bigger than him, but she didn't mind. She just wanted to hug him to death at the moment…not literally of course. "Thank you so much, Naruto!"

Naruto, who finally recovered from the shock, brought his hands around her waist as well and smiled. "You're very welcome. You just look so beautiful in the dress. It would be a shame to leave it in that shop like that."

The pink haired girl was really taken back by his words and started blushing furiously. Suddenly she couldn't think straight anymore and she couldn't control her actions. She lunged forward and kissed the boy on the cheek before breaking free from his hold. She walked away after that.

The boy became as red as a lobster and he nearly fainted for the third time in one week. He brought his hand to the cheek and he got a dreamy and unbelieving look on his face. He couldn't believe it. Had she really kissed him!?

The pink haired girl opened the door to her room, before Naruto could say anything else. "I'm going to bed, because I'm very tired and I have plans early in the morning. Right, Naruto?"

Said boy's eyes widened and he turned towards the girl, only to find a closed door. His legs finally gave out and he fell on his behind. The dreamy look on his face never left him and he just had to smile. This vacation couldn't get any better. First he gets to shop without getting kicked out and then the girl of his dreams kisses him. This has to be the best day in his life.

He was broken out of his thoughts, when Ichigo patted him on the shoulder. "Nice move there, little man. You really made my little flower happy. I hadn't expected that you were the romantic type."

Naruto blushed and walked towards the kitchen. "I think that I'm going to eat something. This funny feeling in my stomach keeps bugging me."

Yuki sighed and followed the boy. _'He still doesn't know what butterflies in his stomach are… That isn't hunger, Naruto. What you're feeling is much more…it's love…And I'm happy to see that you care for her so much.'_

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Sakura lied underneath the sheets of her bed. Her cheeks were on fire and her heart was pounding like crazy. The boy was really the most gentle and most caring boy in the world. She was already looking forward to training tomorrow. Since everything had gone so well today, she had asked the boy if she could train with him from now on. The boy had agreed of course.

But the boy just never seemed to surprise her. First he saves her from Gaara, then he suddenly shows up, and now he bought her a beautiful dress. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to lose him. The boy seemed so close now and it made her feel all warm. And she wasn't about to let this warmth go away.

Her eyes widened when she suddenly realised something. She hadn't thought about Sasuke the whole time. She was only thinking about the hyperactive number one ninja. Was she really in love with him? And why does it feel so much better than following around Sasuke the whole time?

She brought her fingers to her lips and smiled.

'_**You want to do it again, don't you?'**_

'_I'm not talking to you!'_

'_**You've got to admit it, girl. You want to have your way with him just as much as me!'**_

'_Maybe, but my way is different than yours. That's for sure, you pervert.'_

'_**She confessed! About time! Now, make your move!'**_

'_Yeah, maybe it's time. I don't want to lose this feeling and as a ninja I have to use all the time I can get to become happy__. It's not like Sasuke-kun would have ever given me a chance anyway. And I think that Sasuke-kun isn't even what I want anymore. No, I don't think that, I know that. Uzumaki Naruto, you're not done with me yet!'_

'_**Then go for it, girl! Let me feel him!'**_

'_You really need to cool down, you know…'_

'_**You're just as perverted as me…'**_

'_No, I'm not!'_

'_**Then tell me why you zoned out when you saw him after his training. You were looking at his body! You can't lie to me!'**_

'_You must have seen wrong!'_

'_**Why do I even bother… ?'**_

'_Just shut up and let me sleep!'_

'_**I bet that you're even going to dream about him!'**_

'_Just shut up!'_

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AN: Argh! The chapter became too long again. I'm never going to finish this on time DX

I guess that I have to stay up tomorrow night to finish it on time…Well, I hope that you liked the chapter. I'm not completely happy with the beginning, but I liked writing the end of the chapter. I hope that you liked it too.

Sorry, I couldn't resist the Jiraiya/team rocket combination xD I just had to put it in there

Finally a kiss, although it was on the cheek, but it's better than nothing, right;) This story can't have mature scenes, so I can't go much further than kissing, so bear with me and they are only fourteen in this story.;)

Thank you for all the nice reviews again! I am really surprised by the reviews and it makes me really happy! You guys are the best! I hope to see a review to see what you think about this chappie.


	7. Day 6: Almost there

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto would be wearing better clothes...**

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**Day 6****: Almost there**

Naruto shot up from his mattress with widened eyes once again. He was breathing heavily and there was sweat all over his face. Looking around, he saw that he was in the pink room. Sighing out in relief, he used his hand to wipe away some of the sweat. Those dreams with the demon fox in it weren't funny anymore. He couldn't get a good night of rest in this vacation at all. But what scared him the most was that he knew that the Kyuubi was right. The moment Sakura found out about the baka-kitsune, she would leave him just like the rest of the village.

Steadying his breathing, he stood up. He walked over to the alarm clock and picked it up. His eyes weren't completely open yet, so he had to hold to red number very close. It was almost seven in the morning already! "Damn, I overslept…"

Glancing over his shoulder, he could see that his pink haired friend was still sleepy soundlessly on the comfy bed. Smiling, he decided to let her rest for a few minutes longer. He just didn't want to ruin the cute sight in front of him.

Opening the door, he walked over to the bathroom and he quickly washed himself. They had bought a toothbrush yesterday as well, so he was able to brush his teeth now. He didn't want to spend this vacation with bad breath of course. He put on his new clothes again and gave himself the nice guy pose in the mirror. He had to admit that Sakura had taste. These clothes were the best.

He exited the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. He was feeling quite generous this morning, so he would do something he had never done before. Make breakfast for someone else. He looked around to see what his options were. There was a toaster and there was a lot of food in the fridge. There was orange juice too.

He decided to go for the orange juice, but he didn't know what kind of food to choose. Shrugging, he grabbed two sandwiches and put them in the toaster. It wasn't fancy, but he didn't know how to make anything else to be honest. He had tried to find some ramen, but somehow there wasn't any of it in the entire cottage. He would have to make up for that when he returned to the village.

The toaster beeped and the toasted bread shot out. He grabbed the two sandwiches and put some butter and jelly on them. He knew how much the girl liked the strawberry flavour. He poured the orange juice in a glass and put everything on a plate. Happy with his work, he walked over to the pink room once again.

He opened the door with his back and was careful not to scare the girl. He looked at the pink beauty and could see that she was still sleeping. Add some wings and she would be an angel. He was really too lucky to be able to be here with her. This was truly the best summer vacation he would ever have.

Somehow the two of them had grown closer during these last few days and it made him red just thinking about it. She had hugged him several times now and then there was that kiss. Putting down the plate on the night desk, he brought a hand to his kissed cheek. It was the only place on his face that he hadn't washed. He wasn't going to wash that cheek ever again!

But he wasn't sure how to handle it. Should he think more than meets the eye? Was she really starting to like him or was it just a friendly kiss? Either way he was still happy with the pink haired girl. She was the best friend he would ever have, even if she didn't love him back. And he would always be there for her…always. A smile came upon his whiskered face while he was thinking about his dream girl. She always was and she would always be the one for him.

But then a frown replaced the smile on his face. He wasn't sure what to think of these dreams with the fox and the pink haired girl in it. Was it just a dream or was it something more. Jiraiya had told him that the fox would be able to make contact to him if the seal weakened. Could it be that the fox was doing that during his sleep?

He wasn't sure what to think anymore, but he needed to get this off his chest. Maybe Ichigo could help him with this problem. After all, he could still remember the words that the man had spoke during their trip here.

"_I'm sure that she will understand that you're not the Kyuubi either, my boy. Believe me."_

He hadn't known that Ichigo was her father at that moment, but the old man did know. Yeah, he would have to go talk to Ichigo about this. He was sure that the man could help him with his problem.

Regaining his spirit, he walked over to the bed and sat down next to the pink haired girl. Gently shaking the girl, he tried to wake her up. When he saw that it didn't help one bit, he tried saying her name a few times too. When even that didn't seem to work, he got worried. The girl was certainly a heavy sleeper, but there was something else that was bugging him. She started to shake and a frown was placed on her face. It looked like she was having a nightmare or something.

He grabbed her shoulder and started to shake her more. "Wake up, Sakura-chan! You're having a nightmare! Just wake up!"

The girl's eyes shot open and Naruto could see that there were a few tears in those emerald eyes as well. Her breathing was heavy and she had sweat on her forehead. Shock was apparent all over her face and she looked very confused as well. All of this seemed really familiar. He just woke up this morning, having the same syndromes.

The girl suddenly seemed to regain her senses and she looked the boy in front of her in the eyes. She looked surprised at first, but this was soon replaced by anger. She brought her fist back. "Naruto, what are you doing on my bed!? I hope that it wasn't anything perverted!"

Said boy moved his hands in front of him to make some kind of wall between the girl and him. "I wasn't doing anything perverted, Sakura-chan! You know me better than that! You looked like you were having a nightmare, so I woke you up…"

All of her anger disappeared after hearing those words. Her fist fell down and her frown was replaced by a guilty expression. She still didn't give the boy the credit he deserved. She knew damn well that he wouldn't do something like that. The why did she act the way she did? It must have been her mother's fault for being so overprotective.

But what really surprised her was the fact that the boy had such a big heart. He seemed to be hated throughout the village of Konoha, but still he finds it in himself to help other people. She couldn't remember how many times he had helped her already. And just now he had saved her from that terrible nightmare.

Once again she had been dreaming that same dream about Gaara and she was on the verge of dying when the darkness suddenly disappeared and the whole world started shaking. She woke up right after that. Somehow she had that same warm feeling as last time, but this time it wasn't her forehead that felt so warm, but this time it were her shoulders.

When she looked the boy into his eyes, she could see his worried and sad expression and it broke her heart to see him like this. And she knew that it was all her fault. She looked down. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I should have known better. You really helped me out just now, you know. I hope that you can forgive me for being such a bitch sometimes…"

She was surprised when the boy started to laugh. Giving him a glare, she looked him in the eyes to find out the reason for his happiness. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I know that it might seem a bit strange when you woke up and saw me on your bed. I'm not totally stupid, you know. And don't ever say that you're a bitch, because you're not! You're the nicest person I know and I mean it! And you know me. I never go back on my word. Oh, and I got something for you." He then grabbed the plate with food and gave it to his pink haired friend.

"What's this?" Sakura asked dumbfounded.

Naruto started to rub the back of his head and he gave the girl his biggest grin ever. "I just wanted to thank you for this great vacation and it wouldn't have been so nice without you. So I thought that the least I could do was to make you some breakfast. I didn't know what else to make, so you'll have to deal with toast and orange juice." The boy then turned a shade of red.

She couldn't believe this. The boy had given her breakfast on bed?! This was something that only happened in those romantic movies. She didn't know that Naruto was the romantic type. She thought that he was so clueless on that subject. But hey, he had surprised her a lot of times lately and it made him only even more likable. A deep blush came upon her face and she turned to the boy with a grand smile. "You sure know how to make a girl happy, you know."

"Haha, don't say stupid things like that, Sakura-chan, you're embarrassing me!" Naruto said while feeling really nervous. The seductive look in her face scared the shit out of him. He was surprised when the girl gave him a quick hug before she began eating her food. Smiling, he was about to walk away, when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning around, he saw that it was Sakura.

She gave him the cutest look he had ever seen. It was something between a begging look and a pout and it made her look really cute. "Why are you leaving? You don't think that I can finish all of this myself, do you? Come here, eat with me."

Naruto immediately gave in and sat down next to the pink haired girl. He accidentally moved his arm against hers and both looked at each other, before quickly looking away. When everything became silent, both glanced at their friend at the same time once again. They could see the blushes and they got lost in each other's eyes. Blue met green and it was like magic. The food was long forgotten and they just continued to look each other in the eyes.

They were broken out of their trance when the door to the bedroom suddenly opened. Both turned towards the door to see Sakura's mother standing there with a smile on her face. She was greeted by a frown on her daughter's face and a grinning boy next to her. She looked around and saw the plate with breakfast. Putting everything together, she gasped and quickly turned around. "Sorry for interrupting you two. Just wanted to see if you were awake already."

The door closed again and both let out of breath they didn't know they had. Naruto quickly grabbed one of the pieces of toast, before eating it up in one go. "I'll be waiting for you at the exit, okay?"

Before the pink haired girl could say anything, the boy had already left the room. She fell down on her bed and brought one of her hands to her heart. It was beating like crazy and she was almost sure that it was going to come out. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was heavy once again. Not because of waking up from a nightmare, but from a beautiful dream.

"_**You were going to kiss him, weren't you!'**_

'_What! No way!'_

'_**You can't lie to me! I could feel it. You got lost in his eyes and you forgot about everything else! You're really pitiful right now, girl! You're really in love!'**_

'_I don't know what you'__re talking about!'_

'_**I wonder what would have happened if mom wouldn't have come in!' **_Her inner self began to laugh when Sakura started to blush furiously. _**'You're blushing! You can't deny it now!**_

'_Just shut up!'_

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Naruto looked over his shoulder to see how his friend was doing. They had been training for a long time now and he was slowly getting tired. They had run laps around the fields; they had done both push-ups and sit-ups. He was amazed that the girl was able to keep up. He knew that she was strong, but he hadn't expected her to be so motivated. He always thought that she was the type of girl to skip training, but she had really surprised him today. "Let's go, Sakura-chan. We've done more than enough training for today!"

The girl nodded and started to walk over to the boy, when her legs suddenly gave out on her. She fell on her knees and leaned on her hands. "What's happening?"

Naruto walked over to her and gave her a smile. "You just used up too much chakra, so you're having trouble walking."

The pink haired girl's face fell and she sighed. "So, I really am weak…"

She was surprised when she felt two powerful hands on her shoulders. She looked up and saw the serious look in the boy's eyes. She was about to say something, when he started to talk. "Don't ever say that you're weak, Sakura-chan. Because you're not! You're the strongest girl I know, in both will and strength."

Sakura was happy that the boy tried to make her feel better, but she still wasn't convinced. "But I'm just holding you back. I'm always holding you guys back!" Tears began to form in her eyes. She hated to be weak.

"Who said that you're holding us back?!" Naruto shouted back with anger in his voice.

Sakura looked down. "Sasuke-kun told me a dozen times already…H.."

"Screw Sasuke!" Sakura shot her head up and saw the angry look on his face. "That bastard thinks of everyone that way. Don't you see? He says it to me, Kakashi-sensei and even the hokage. He thinks that everyone in the village is holding him back. Don't take it personal. You're holding nobody back; believe me, Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired girl was really taken back by his words and gave him a soft smile. She wanted to walk over to him in order to hug the shit out of him, but she just didn't have the strength to do so. She turned to the boy with a pouting look on her face. "So, what do we do now? We have to hurry home!"

This confused the yellow haired boy. He raised a brow and gave her an odd look. "Why do we have to hurry? We didn't have anything planned today, right?"

Sakura brought one of her hands to her forehead. She had forgotten to tell him, didn't she…There wasn't much use in having a big forehead if you don't know how to use it. She was called smart before, but she made so many mistakes in her life, that she wasn't so sure anymore. "We're going on a camping trip for two days. We are supposed to leave in a few hours and we still have to get our things ready. But with my state, it will take a while to get back to the cottage…"

"Oh yeah, I love camping! I've never done it before in my life, but I'm sure it's great. We can catch our own food and sing campfire songs, although I don't know any!" The boy called out while jumping up and down.

Smiling, because the boy was really cute while reacting like that, she tried to stand up. "I'm glad that you're happy, but how are we going to get to the cottage fast? If we're going to walk, then it will take us two hours at the least and we don't really have that kind of time…I'm being a burden again, am I…" Sakura finished with a frown on her face.

She was shocked when the boy suddenly kneeled in front of her with his back turned her way. Sakura knew what he intended to do and she started to blush. She quickly shook the blush away and gave the boy an angry face. "I'm not a little girl anymore, Naruto. I can walk myself!"

She took two steps and fell down on Naruto's back. A blush appeared on her face, because of embarrassment, but because of the intimate situation between the two as well. "I can see that, Sakura-chan. Just let me carry you this one time. Believe me; we'll be much faster that way!"

The girl finally gave in and nodded. This made the boy carrying her on his back smile and started to run as fast as he could. "Hold on, Sakura-chan! I'm going to try and set a new record!"

Sakura was shocked. How could the boy have so much stamina left after training for so long? He was moving faster than she could ever hope to and he didn't seem tired at all. "How can it be that you have this much stamina, Naruto? It's really amazing!"

The boy was flattered by the compliment, but he still had to frown. He wasn't ready to tell her about to fox. Not when everything was going so well. He quickly thought of something and glanced over his shoulder. "A lot of training will do this to you, Sakura-chan! So don't ever skip your training again!" He grinned, because he knew that he had thought of a great excuse. This was believable and it would make the girl more motivated as well.

Sakura seemed to buy it, because it caused her to pout. "Damn, then it will take me a long time to catch up to you. You're much further than I am. I'm sure that you'll become hokage before you know it!"

Smiling, he glanced jumped up in the trees to increase his speed even more. "Haha, yeah, I will become hokage! But I'm sure that you'll catch up to me in no time. If you want to train together more, I'm fine with it. That way we can both become a lot stronger in no time!"

The girl surprised the boy by placing her head on one of his shoulder. He became beef red in an instant and he quickly glanced over his shoulder. The girl had her eyes closed and was already dozing off. A true smile came upon his face and he increased his speed even more, so that the girl could rest in her bed. "I….would….love….that….Nar…uto…"

He glanced over his shoulder one more time and saw that she was already asleep. A shiver went down his spine when he felt her breathing on his neck. He nearly missed his step because of it and concentrated on the road. He had to watch out for branches and bird shit on the way, because he wanted to keep his shoes clean.

The lines of trees finally came to an end and a smile came upon his face. The cottage came into view and he slowed his pace. He didn't want to break the wooden house by crashing into it after all.

He finally reached the door and opened it. Closing it behind him, he walked over to the living room. Sakura's parents were both in there, doing there own things. Yuki was making her bags ready and Ichigo was watching television once again. Naruto shook his head. The man was as lazy as hell. He didn't mean it last time when he said that he should introduce him to Shikamaru, but now he wasn't so sure about that joke anymore. He was now positive that they would become the best of friends.

Ichigo saw the boy with his daughter on his back and immediately stood up. He walked over to the boy and grabbed him by his collar. An angry expression was colouring his face, but Naruto knew that the man was just worried about his daughter. "What the hell happened with my little flower! I hope that you can explain this, kid!"

Naruto sighed and was careful not to drop the pink haired girl. Didn't the man in front of him understand that he almost made his own daughter fall? "Don't worry, Ichigo. We went a little too far with our training and Sakura-chan ended up using all of her chakra. She didn't have enough to walk anymore, so I decided to carry her. She fell asleep on the way. So don't worry. She'll wake up in no time."

The man's expression turned into a guilty one and he released the collar. "I'm sorry, my boy. I had no idea. I always jump to conclusions when it comes to my little girl. She means the world to me."

"Don't worry old man. I know that you only did it, because you care for her." He then walked over to the couch and gentle placed the girl on it. He stuffed one of the pillows and laid her head on the yellow thing. A sigh of content left her mouth and Naruto just had to smile. She looked beautiful, even in sleep.

He was about to exit the room, when Yuki stopped him. "Thank you for being there for our daughter, Naruto-kun."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

The pink haired woman smiled and glanced over shoulder to indicate the way her daughter was looking. "Sakura has always been an active and happy kind of girl, but the true Sakura faded, because of years of bullying. After that she got a crush on that team mate of yours and she got even more distant from us. But during this vacation she started to open up again and I haven't seen her smiling like that in a long time. I just want to thank you for that, son."

He was surprised when the woman embraced him and buried his head in her bosom. He became beef red for two reasons. One: this was the first time that someone pushed him into the forbidden area of girls. Two: he couldn't breathe! Yuki saw this too and quickly released the boy. "I'm sorry, dear. Are you alright!"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but please, never do that again!" Naruto replied after catching his breath. "So when are we going to leave? I heard that we're going to go camping?"

The brown haired man walked over to the boy and his wife and grinned. "Sorry for not telling you. I kind of forgot about it. But we'll be leaving in an hour or so. Then Sakura will probably be fit again and then we'll head to the lake. It's a pretty long trip by foot. So I think that we'll reach it when the sun goes down."

Naruto nodded and walked to the bedroom. "I'll go get my things!"

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Sakura woke up after half an hour and they left not long after that. They were almost there now and it has been a tiring trip. The sun was slowly going down and it was getting darker with the minute. "So, what's up with this camping tradition? Sakura-chan told me that you do this every year, right."

He turned to face the brown haired man. "I come from a family that has travelled around the world for centuries. My parents took me to this place as well when I was young. I always was a fanatic when it came to camping, so I decided to bring my family with me. Yuki found it great too, so we made this a tradition. A lot of good stuff happened at the late, right dear?" He finished while looking at his wife.

Naruto didn't know what he was saying, but he knew it had something to do with the two if them. Because Yuki became red after the man said it. Naruto shrugged and left the two to themselves and slowed down to walk next to his pink haired friend. "So, what are you thinking about, Sakura-chan?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Sakura replied while shaking her head. If the boy had looked well, then he would have seen that her face had a tinge of red on it. She wasn't just going to say that he was the one on her mind for the last couple of hours. She still couldn't forget the comfortable ride home from training. It made her blush every time she thought about it. And it didn't help that her inner self was encouraging her to take drastic steps…

She was broken from her thoughts when her father suddenly jumped up. "We're here!"

Naruto ran past the man and his eyes widened in awe when he saw the beautiful sight in front of him. The lake was made of a brilliant blue and the trees forests that were surrounding the lake gave it an extra effect. He had never seen something as beautiful as that in his life. Just at that moment his pink haired dream girl walked past him towards the lake. Okay, there was one thing that was more beautiful, or in this case…someone.

They walked towards the grassy fields surrounding the water and sat down. Naruto was still looking around. The stars were out now and they were being reflected by the water as well. It was truly pretty. He was broken out of his thoughts when Sakura patted him on the shoulder. "And do you like it?"

Naruto looked her in those gorgeous emerald eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I like it very much…"

Ichigo stood up and helped his wife to get up too. "Let's make the tents ready. I think that it's best to go to sleep soon, because I know that the trip has taken its toll of most people here." He said the last part looking at a certain blond boy with almost unlimited stamina.

Naruto became worried and quickly stood up. "Tent? I don't have a tent."

"I know. We have tow tents. Both are pretty big and they are good for two people each. The one I've got is a bit bigger that Sakura's one though." The man replied with a smile on his face.

The yellow haired boy sighed and sat down again. "It's fine. I'll just sleep under the stars. You can give Sakura-chan a whole tent for herself."

"No way!"

He was surprised that the reply didn't come from Ichigo, but from his pink haired crush. "There's no way that you're going to sleep outside, Naruto. Do you know what those mosquitoes would do to you if you stayed out a whole night? They'll suck all of your blood. And you'll get itchy for days to come. You're just going to have to share a tent with me!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "No, you don't have to do that, Sakura-chan. If you want me to sleep in a tent, I can go with Ichigo, so you can go with your mother."

He was surprised when the girl got a pleading look on her face. "No, my mother snores and I don't even want to think about going in the same tent as my father. I want to talk with you about some things as well, so why don't we just share one of the tents. I know that you won't do anything to me what I don't want, so I don't have to be afraid of that. I trust you. So, what do you say? I'm not that disgustful, am I?" She said the last sentence with a smirk on her face.

"No, you're not. You're a real fun person to be with!" The boy said with a nervous smile on his face.

Sakura smirked and grabbed the big tent from her father, who was dumbfounded by his daughter's actions. She then walked over to her blond friend and extended one of her hands. "Come on, let's go set up our tent."

Naruto smiled and accepted the hand. She pulled him up and gave him the tent. She looked around and smiled when she found a good spot. "Let's set it up over there! It looks the perfect place."

Naruto nodded and placed the tent on the ground. He raised an eyebrow, before turning to the girl next to him. "It looks a bit small, Sakura-chan. Are you sure that we're going to fit inside it?"

Sakura sighed and gave the boy a hit on the head. "We still need to set up the tent, idiot. Here, let me show you. First you remove this part and then the tent is supposed to unroll." She did what she said, but nothing happened. "What the hell, why isn't this stupid thing opening! It must be broken or something!"

"What if you remove this part too?" Naruto offered while removing the small pin. The tent unrolled and Naruto started to grin. He looked at his pink haired friend and saw that she wasn't appreciating his help. A vein was apparent of her forehead and her fists were clenched. Naruto already took a few steps back, because his friend looked aggressive. And most of the times that ended up with him being hit….

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Ichigo and Yuki were already lying in their tent. They didn't know why the young ones had so much trouble with their tent. They just needed to press at the button on the bottom and then everything would go automatically. They could hear the arguing voices of Naruto and Sakura on the background. Ichigo sighed and embraced his wife. "Kids…."

"_You baka! I told you that you needed to point those things in the ground! _

Yuki smiled and laid her head on her husband's chest. "They are cute together, aren't they?"

"_Sakura-chan! That part is supposed to go here! Why don't you just listen to me!"_

"Yeah, I think that they'll be perfect together. I think that he's the only person in the world with enough energy to handle our cherry blossom…" Ichigo replied with a smile on his face.

"_Don't do that, Naruto! You're going to destroy it!"_

"_No, I'm not, just watch!"_

"_No, give it here! That part has to go here!_

"_No here! I'm a man. I think that I know what I'm doing! Hey what's this button?"_

There was a long silence, before they suddenly heard the boy scream out.

"_Ouch, that's cheating, Sakura-chan!"_

"_You deserved it for not listening to me! See, I was right!"_

"_Cheater!"_

"_Sore loser!"_

"Why don't we just continue what we started last year, dear? I can still remember all of it very clearly." Yuki said while bringer her lips down on Ichigo's. He gave in immediately and even deepened the kiss.

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Naruto and Sakura finally sat down after making their tent ready. It had taken them more than two hours and Sakura's parents had done it in less than one! "Why didn't you just listen to me right away, Naruto? I am an expert at these kinds of things."

"Fine, next time I'll listen, but you didn't have to do that, you know. It's still hurting!" Naruto said before lying down on his mattress.

Sakura grinned, before crawling his way. "Crybaby!"

She needed to go past the boy in order to go to her own mattress, but just as she was going over the boy, her hand slipped and she fell down on top of him. Naruto's eyes shot open immediately. The only thing he could see was a beautiful face. Sakura's face was hovering just above his own. Green met blue once again and both didn't dare to glance away.

Sakura was mesmerized by his beautiful eyes and slowly moved closer. A blush came upon her face and she was shocked when the boy started to move his face towards hers as well. His handsome face was beef red, maybe even redder than her own. They were moving closer….closer….closer….Their lips almost met, when they suddenly heard someone walk past their tent.

They broke away quickly and lied down with their backs to each other.

They could hear Ichigo scream as he was running. "Damn, I need to water the plants!"

'_**Damn you, dad! You ruined everything!'**_

Sakura's heart was beating like crazy once again. She knew that her cheeks were burning and she wasn't breathing right. Was she really….was she really about to kiss him? She couldn't believe it. And it seemed like he was going to do the same. She cursed herself for having such a stupid father. He always had to pee at times like this…

'_**You were so close…so close! Shannaro!'**_

She wondered if the boy was feeling the same as her at the moment. She steadies her breathing and slowly closed her eyes. She figured that the boy next to her wasn't feeling as exited as her at the moment, because he didn't seem nervous at all. Sighing, she made herself comfortable and started to doze off.

"G..good…ni..night, Sakura-chan…"

She quickly turned around and was greeted by Naruto's back. He was nervous too! So he was feeling the same! A smile came upon her face and she lied down again. Closing her eyes, she thought about her vacation. So much had happened already and here she was lying in the same tent as Naruto. Nobody would have expected something like this to happen, but somehow she wasn't disappointed at all. She opened her eyes one more time to look at her team mate. _'Let's continue that some other time, you lovable fool…'_

Closing her eyes, she got a content smile on her face. "Sweet dreams, Naruto…"

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**AN:** Well, I finished another chapter. It became too long again! Why can't I just get a shorter chapter out? Well, I hope that you like it. I needed to rush some things, but I hope that they don't seem too rushed.

Thank you for the great reviews guys! I'm really happy! I got so many reviews for the story and almost all of them are really nice! I didn't know that this story would be so popular! Well, I'll try to get another chapter out this night. That one will be shorter, because I don't plan much on happening on that day. There will be fluff and funny stuff, but I need to hurry if I want to finish the story in time, so I can't waste time on writing stuff that isn't very important.

Please leave a review and I hope that you enjoy yourself:D


	8. Day 7: Water fun

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: I don't own naruto, but I do own this story**

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**Day 7****: Water fun**

Naruto woke up with a content look on his face. The demon fox hadn't bugged him for the first time since the vacation began. Sitting up, he stretched out his arms and he yawned loudly after that. He suddenly realised that he wasn't the only one in the tent and he quickly put a hand on his mouth.

Closing his eyes, he hoped that he didn't wake her up. When he heard her breathing, he sighed in relief. The girl was still dreaming. He didn't want to be the one to wake her up, so he was about to stand up, when something held him back. Glancing to his arm, his eyes widened when he saw what was holding him back.

Sakura had both arms around his right one! His face became beef red and he nearly fainted. What the hell was going on! The girl must have done it while sleeping. He was about to remove her arms, when he saw that the girl started to shake. The grip on his arm tightened and he could see the pained expression on his face.

The blush on his face disappeared and he quickly moved to face her. He brought his free hand to her shoulder and quickly moved it around. The girl was having a nightmare again. "Sakura-chan!"

The girl started to shake even more and Naruto got worried now. It was even worse than last time. He removed the two hands that were holding him and started to shake her even harder. The girl's eyes shot open in shock. She was breathing heavily again and he could see that she was still trembling. But what really set him off was that there were tears falling down her cheeks. Acting on impulse, he pulled the girl in for a hug. The girl started to cry even harder after this. "Sssst, you're alright now, Sakura-chan. It was just a nightmare. Just let everything out now."

"But it was so real!" She managed to get out between sobs.

Naruto could feel that she was still trembling like crazy and he couldn't take it anymore. He cupped her face with his hands and looked her in the eyes. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. It was just a dream. Everything's okay now. Look in my eyes. You know that I won't lie to you. Everything will be alright."

The girl stopped trembling after this and she even got a smile out. "You're a fool, you know."

Grinning, Naruto wiped away the lingering tears in her eyes with his thumbs. "Yeah, I know. But that doesn't keep me from caring." He released her face and kissed her forehead before sitting back down.

Sakura became red and her eyes widened. She brought her hand to her forehead and started to smile even more. She was about to say something, but the boy beat her to it. "So, how about you tell me what you were dreaming about, Sakura-chan."

"I…I don't want to…" Sakura said. She wanted to forget that stupid nightmare as fast as possible.

Naruto sighed and gave the pink haired girl a serious expression. Sakura was taken back by this, because the boy was really serious when he looked like this. There was no more escape.

Sighing, she sat up and faced the boy. "Every time I am walking through the village and everything's fine, but then it becomes dark and I have to walk through a dark alleyway." She stopped for a while, because the tears in her eyes were returning again. "And then I get attacked by that monster from the sand village…"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Gaara!?"

The girl slowly shook her head and sighed again. "He always says that he's going to kill me and then he wraps his sand around me. Just now, he was about to crush me, when the light broke the darkness and I woke up." She then looked the boy in the eyes and let out a smile she didn't know she had. "And then I saw you. Just like last time…You're the one who saved me from him…"

Naruto was taken back by her words. He knew that Gaara had almost killed her during the sand/sound invasion, but he didn't know that she was still afraid of the guy. Hell, he thought that he had it bad with his nightmares, but at least he wasn't dreaming about his own death all the time. "Well, don't worry about that anymore, Sakura-chan. I have beaten him once and I can do it again. I'll always protect you. Count on it. You'll never have to be scared again. Just believe in me and you'll be fine."

Sakura smiled and became very emotional all of a sudden. She embraced the boy with everything she had. The boy didn't know what hit him, but he hugged her back with even more passion. They stayed like that for a long time, when Sakura decided to try something. She backed off a bit, but kept her arms around him. She moved her lips towards his forehead and kissed it, earning her a gasp from the boy. His cheeks were on fire and he started to tremble. "That was for always being there for me."

She looked him in the eyes again and cursed herself for it. She got lost in them right away again and she could see the emotions running through them. They were like the waves in the sea and she couldn't help but smile. She was broken from her thoughts when the tent suddenly opened.

"Breakfast is ready!" Ichigo screamed inside. He then saw the two hugging and started to grin. "I expect you two to be there soon. Don't do things that I wouldn't do!" He quickly left the tent, evading some shoes on the way.

"Great! First I have another person in my head that is perverted and now my dad is too! Could it get even better!" She said to nobody in particular.

Naruto became very confused now. "Another person in your head? What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura, suddenly realising her mistake, quickly exited the tent. "Didn't you hear my dad? Breakfast is already waiting for us. I'm so damn hungry. You're not?"

"I guess so..." Naruto said before getting out of the tent as well.

They walked over to Sakura's parents and sat down on the ground. Naruto accidentally touched her hand while sitting down and this caused the pink haired girl to blush furiously. Naruto saw this too and started to blush himself. He didn't understand what was going on. The girl always used to hit him for something like this, but now she acted like she was enjoying it. Was she starting to like him? Shaking his head, he got that idea out of his head. She was still in love with that bastard. He was sure of it. But…why was she looking at him like that…

They all ate breakfast in silence. Sakura occasionally threw a glance at her blonde friend and Naruto did the same. Ichigo saw this and just had to smile. Young love was something to be cherished. He turned to his wife and saw that she enjoyed the show as well. She nodded and turned to the two youngsters again. "Your father and I are going to take our yearly walk today, dear. So you two will have the entire camp to yourselves."

"What kind of walk?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Ichigo smiled before walking towards the boy. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he gave the boy a wink. "Just wait a few years and you'll understand." He said it while glancing over to his daughter, who gave him a confused look back.

"Why don't you two go swimming today? The weather is nice and swimming is something you do in a vacation, isn't it? You didn't buy that new bikini for nothing, dear." Yuki said with a devilish smile on her face. But luckily her daughter didn't see this.

Sakura nodded and stood up. "I guess that we could do that. I'm pretty hot right now after all and I could use the exercise." She then turned to her team mate. "What do you say, Naruto?"

The boy started grinning and quickly stood up as well. "Well, I didn't buy those swimming pants for the show or did I! Let's go. I forgot my training today, so this has to make up for it. I can't be getting fat on this vacation. I can't imagine the village of Konoha having a fat hokage." Naruto then imagined a Chouji/Tsunade combination and it scared the shit out of him.

Sakura smirked and gave the boy a playful push. "You were thinking funny things again, weren't you…?"

Rubbing the back of his head, he got out his foxy grin. "You got me…"

Yuki stood up and headed towards Sakura's tent. "Sakura, do you want me to help you with your bikini!?"

"I'll be right there, mom!" Sakura screamed back. She gave the boy one last smile before standing up. "I'll see you later, Naruto."

"Yeah, see you later, Sakura-chan!" Naruto stood up and walked over to his bag of clothes. He got out his swimming pants and walked towards the smaller tent. He walked past Ichigo on the way. "Good luck, son. You'll need it…"

Naruto quickly turned around, but he was surprised to see that the man was already gone. Raising an eyebrow, he continued to walk. The man could be awfully fast for not being a ninja…

He put on the swimming pants and headed towards the lake. He wasn't surprised to be the first one there, so he sat down next to the water, while putting his feet inside. The water was nice and warm and he couldn't wait to get in. He smiled when he saw some birds and a deer drinking from the lake. He had always been fond of nature. It just made him feel at home. After he retired from his position as hokage, he would go live in a place like this. And he wanted to do it with Sakura close to him.

He has liked her for a long time, but ever since he met up with her in the cottage, it became more and more. He could now say that he was in love with her with a straight look on his face.

He was broken from his thoughts when he heard some noises behind him. He quickly stood up and turned around. His eyes widened at the beautiful sight in front of him. His pink haired friend was walking towards him with a slight blush on her face. Her face was down and he could see that she was nervous. She was wearing a red bikini that showed her curves perfectly. He could understand that Ino was the one who chose pieces of clothing. He knew that the blonde was more daring than his team mate. Sakura would have never chosen this one herself. But for once, he was grateful. This thing made her look so damn sexy!

"Hey, Naruto." She said without looking up. She didn't want to see the disappointment in his face. She knew that her assets were pretty small and this bikini made it even more obvious. She cursed her rival for choosing this one. At the time that she bought it, it looked like the best choice, but she couldn't know back then that the boy she liked would be here as well.

She slowly looked up and her cheeks started burning when she saw the boy in front of her. The swimming pants he was wearing were orange of course, but there was a cute design on it. But that wasn't what caused her to blush. It was his body! Her inner self was right. He did have a fine body! The blush on her face deepened when she saw his muscular stomach. That had to be the result of years of hard training.

'_**Hug him! I need to feel that body! What are you waiting for!'**_

She then went further up and saw his chest. It looked great as well and she couldn't contain herself anymore. She couldn't wait to lay her head on the powerful chest. A bit of drool came out of her mouth at this moment and she just wanted to touch him!

And then she finally reached his face. But to her surprise, he didn't look disappointed at all. It was actually quite the contrary. He had a dreamy look on his face and he was drooling just as she was. Her eyes shot open when she saw a bit of blood under his nose. She couldn't believe it. Did he really find her that attractive? She didn't dare say anything, because she couldn't trust her voice right now.

The boy was still looking at her and somehow it made her feel really special. She turned to her mother and saw that she had an understanding smile on her face. The pink haired woman nodded and moved her hands, indicating that she should say something. Great, so her mother was actually supporting her to make a move….

Sighing, she gathered all of her courage and she took a few steps forward. "You look nice, Naruto. I love your swimming pants."

'_**And your fine body as well! Shannaro!'**_

'_Shut up, you're making me nervous!'_

'_**Just make your move and get it over with already, you chicken!'**_

'_But what if he doesn't like my body? He hasn't said anything about me…'_

'_**Get over your insecurity, girl! Believe in yourself a bit more!'**_

She was broken out her mental war, when the boy in front of her started to grin. He looked more nervous than ever and he brought one of his hands to the back of his head. "You look great too, Sakura-chan! The bikini really suits you. It goes well with your hair."

Sakura's cheeks became redder than ever now. "You really mean that!?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I mean it?" Naruto asked, while raising one of his eyebrows. He didn't understand why she would ask something like that. She had to know by now that he never lied to her.

The pink haired girl was fidgeting with her fingers, before bringing her hands to her chest. "Well, I thought that you would be a bit disappointed because of my small 'things'."

Naruto didn't understand what she was saying, but when he saw that she was pointing towards her forbidden area, his eyes widened. His face became even redder now and he quickly glanced away. Was she really worried about the size of her breasts?! And why would that matter with him. She didn't even like him, right? "Are you silly, why would I be disappointed about something like that and why do you care?"

Her mother turned around and left, because she knew that this wasn't meant for her to hear. This was something between the two of them. She headed towards the tent to get her things for her romantic walk with her husband.

The girl with pink hair sighed and dropped her head. "Well, I'm well aware that almost every girl has bigger breasts than me. And most people I know call me 'flat-chest' or something like that. It makes me really feel bad about myself and I guess that it's true. I'm not pretty or sexy. It's no wonder that Sasuke-kun never gave me any attention…"

She was shocked when the boy suddenly placed his hands on her shoulders. Her cheeks started burning again when she his body, but she felt even more nervous when she saw his face. He looked serious and angry. She was about to say something, when he slightly squeezed her shoulder. "You should never doubt yourself like that, Sakura-chan. You shouldn't listen to all those people if they call you like that. Believe me; I know what it's like to be called names. If you listen to all of them, then you'll never get happy with yourself. Just ignore those bastards. You are beautiful, Sakura-chan. And never let anyone convince you that you're not. Got that!"

Sakura was too dumbfounded to answer. She couldn't believe the boy in front of her. He talked like he was an expert, but she knew that he would never lie to her. She trusted him completely. So the boy must have meant every word of it. He really believed that she was pretty? "You really think that I'm beautiful?"

Naruto smiled and released her shoulders. "I think that you're the most beautiful person on the world, Sakura-chan…" He quickly looked away. He had said too much. Now she would hate him and never talk to him again. Why did he have such a big mouth…?

The pink haired girl surprised him by hugging him. "Thank you so much!"

'_**Oh yeah! Great move!'**_

Naruto's eyes widened. He suddenly found it really hard to breathe. Sakura's body was pressed against his and she wasn't wearing anything but a bikini. He had to admit. There were dreams where this happened, but he never guessed that it could become reality. Blood was coming out of his nose and he blacked out before he could even blush.

Sakura felt his body becoming weak and she released the boy. The boy immediately slumped into a pile. "Naruto!?"

She kneeled next to him and waved her hand in front of his eyes. The boy made no movement at all. He was out cold! Sakura became confused. Why would he black out like that? She only hugged the boy, who was only wearing some swimming pants, while she was wearing nothing but a bikini! Realisation hit her and her eyes widened. Drips of blood came out of her nose and a perverted smile came upon her face before blacking out.

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"Let's tell the kids that we're going to go, dear." Yuki said before grabbing the hand of her husband.

Ichigo smiled and gave the pink haired woman a kiss on the cheek before nodding. They reached the lake and he was about to say goodbye, when he saw that both of them unconscious. "What happened over here!?"

He quickly ran towards his daughter and her friend and checked them for injuries. He stopped though, when he saw their faces. Yuki finally reached the area and sat down next to her husband. "Are they alright!?"

The man stood up sighed. "They'll be fine, dear. I just fear that we've raised a little pervert…"

Yuki raised an eyebrow, but when she saw the remains of a nosebleed on her daughter's face, she just had to smile. "I don't even want to know what these two have been doing. Let's go, dear. They'll be fine. I just want to be alone with you right now."

She grabbed Ichigo's hand and led him towards the woods.

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Sakura woke up and looked around to see where she was. Sitting up, she saw that she was near the lake. Bringing her hands to her head, she tried to figure out why she was sleeping over here. Her eyes widened when she remembered the things that had happened and her face turned red within a second. Glancing to her side, she could see that the boy was already gone.

Standing up, she looked everywhere for the boy. Just where was he? He didn't leave her all alone, didn't he?! She walked towards the water and put her feet in the warm water. It really relaxed her and she became comfortable right away. She lied down and watched the clouds fly by. So this was why Shikamaru was so fond of those clouds. It was just so relaxing.

She closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep, when she suddenly felt something grab her ankles. She shrieked, before getting dragged under the water. Her ankles were released and she quickly swam upwards. The moment she got her head above water, she inhaled as much oxygen as she could. Looking beneath her, she could see that a shadow was swimming underneath her.

The shadow came up and Sakura was about to punch it, when she saw that it was no other than her own team mate. The boy was grinning like crazy. "You should have seen your face, Sakura-chan!"

The boy was too busy grinning, so that he didn't see the anger on his friend's face. She wasn't really as angry as she was showing, but she still felt that the boy had to be punished. Nobody had the right to scare her like that, not even he. She brought back her fist and hit him straight in his face. The boy was sent flying and landed on the shore. He brought his hands to his face, because it hurt like hell.

"Don't think that you can get away with this, Naruto!"

He looked behind him and saw the pink haired girl running to him. His eyes widened and he quickly stood up. He shouldn't have tried to be funny. Things always ended up like this. He started running for his life, but somehow the pink haired girl closed in on him. There was only one option left. He gathered chakra in his feet and ran over the water. Maybe the girl would be slower on the water.

He stopped when the screaming behind him stopped. He turned around and saw that Sakura was still standing on the grassy fields with an unbelieving look on her face. Why did she stop? Shaking his head, he brought his hand to his head. Scratching it, he tilted his head. "What?"

Sakura finally broke from her trance and pointed towards him with her finger. "You're standing on the water…"

Raising his brow, Naruto looked down. Then it suddenly hit him. Jiraiya had thought him this while training for the chuunin exam finals. So there was a good chance that his pink haired friend didn't even know how to do it. Smirking, he walked over to his team mate. She seemed to have calmed down, so he was safe for now. "Don't you know how to?"

She just shook her head. The anger was now replaced by admiration. "Kakashi-sensei never taught us that. How in the world can you walk on water? That's amazing!"

Naruto blushed because of the compliment, but quickly shook it off. "Ero-sennin thought me how to do it. It was to help me train my chakra control and I have to say that it worked. I have become much stronger after the water walking exercise."

"Can I do it too?" Sakura asked with a cute look on her face.

The boy smiled and extended his hand. "Sure! You're really good with chakra control, so this should be easy for you. You just have never tried to do it before, but when you know how to do it, it becomes very easy. Just focus your energy to the bottom of your feet and sent it down the water to stay standing. You need to change the amount of chakra you use the whole time, because you'll fall through if you don't. Here, take my hand and I'll help you."

The pink haired girl smiled and grabbed his hand, causing both to blush a bit. "Now, let's take this one step at a time. Just focus the energy at the bottom of your feet and step on the water. I'll hold you, so you don't have to be worry about sinking."

The girl nodded and collected energy at the bottom of her feet. She then took her first step and she had a bit of trouble to keep standing, but her feet stayed above the water. Her balance was the problem.

"Great job, Sakura-chan. You're doing much better than I did on my first try. I fell right through!" The boy said laughing.

Sakura smiled as well, but she was too busy concentrating to laugh. She took another step and Naruto was surprised to see that she was already doing it. She took step after step and a smile came upon her face. "Look, Naruto, I'm really doing it!"

"Yeah, you're awesome, Sakura-chan! I almost feel jealous! You're a natural!" Naruto exclaimed with a big smile on his face. He slowly released the girl and took a few steps back. "Now try it without me holding you."

She nodded and took a few steps. Everything went well and a few minutes later she was even able to jump on the water. Naruto couldn't believe it. He knew that the girl was good with chakra control, but this he hadn't expected. He was proud on her and a bit jealous as well, but he walked over to her with a smile on his face.

The girl was about to say something, when she suddenly fell down. She closed her eyes, awaiting the water to come, but to her confusion the water never came. She opened her eyes and saw that Naruto had caught her. Her back was against his chest and it made her blush. "Seems like you used up too much chakra again."

Sakura sighed and looked down. She felt really disappointed in herself right now. "Then we're going to work on that after our vacation! You could show me how to control my chakra better and I can help you to get more stamina. What do you say?"

"That would be great, Naruto." The pink haired girl replied with a blush on her face. Even now the boy cared about her. She really never wanted to lose his arms around her anymore. It just felt right.

The boy suddenly gave her a pleading look. "Baa-chan told me that there's a festival in some village close to here. Do you want to go there with me when we go back?"

"Sure, I would love that!" Sakura replied with a smile on her face. He was actually asking her out on a date. He used to do that all the time, but lately he stopped doing it. Probably because he was scared of her forwardness. The rest of the way nobody said a word. They both just enjoyed the comfortable silence.

Naruto helped the girl back to the tent and he laid her down on her mattress. They were both pretty sleepy and it was getting pretty late. Time seemed to fly when having fun. Her parents weren't back yet, but they would understand. He wasn't hungry anyway, so he could wait until breakfast. He brushed some of the pink hairs from her forehead and gave her one last smile. He pulled the sheets over her body and turned away from her.

He was about to crawl to his own spot when the pink haired girl suddenly pulled him down and gave him a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. He became redder than ever and nearly fainted. He didn't trust his arms anymore, so he quickly lied down on his own mattress. "Sakura-chan?"

When he didn't get a response, he sighed and turned around. The girl was already asleep. With a dreamy look on his face, he brought a hand to the kissed area. She had really kissed him! She really liked him! This was too good to be true! In his mind he was dancing like crazy, but he knew that he would wake the girl if he started dancing now, so he just smiled and went to sleep.

He just wanted to crawl over to her and kiss her, but in the end he decided against it. He would only end up with a lot of pain. He expected some nice dreams this night. "Sweet dreams, Sakura-chan…"

Unbeknown to a certain hyperactive ninja, the pink haired girl was smiling devilishly with a face as red as a lobster. She brought a finger to her lips held it there for a while. When she heard the sound of snoring, she turned around and saw that the boy had a happy look on his face.

'_**Score!'**_

'_I bet that he never expected that one!'_

'_**Seriously! You even surprised me! I didn't know that you had it in you!'**_

'_People can change. Naruto helped me become the person I am now. The real Haruno Sakura. No more pretending, no more lying, From now on I'll show the real deal. And that one isn't crazy about some Uchiha, but about the nicest person in the world!'_

'_**Just kiss him on the mouth next time. You were so close!'**_

'_Sorry, I lost me nerve at the last moment…'_

'_**I guess that it's better than nothing…'**_

'_Just let me sleep now. I'm very tired…'_

'_**Yeah, we have to look good tomorrow for our date!'**_

'_Yeah, I want to look good for him. Maybe tomorrow I'll kiss him for real. If he let's me.'_

'_**Great plan! Shannaro!'**_

She sighed and closed her eyes once again. "Sweet dreams, my sweet Naruto…"

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**AN:** My shortest chapter until now, but again it became too long. I was getting tired, so the end may seem rushed. I hope that you liked it and I hope that you guys leave a nice review, because I made two chapters in one day! I need to make three of them tomorrow, but the last one will be kind of like an epilogue and it will be small, so I think that I can finish it on time.


	9. Day 8: The truth

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: I don't own naruto, but I do own a lot of other things…**

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**Day 8: The truth**

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He quickly closed them again though when he saw an image of Sakura. Either he was still dreaming or he was so sleepy that he was starting seeing things. Slightly shaking his head, he tried to get up, but to his surprise his body didn't budge at all. He was feeling quite heavy at the moment as well for some reason.

Sighing, he figured that something had fallen on top of him, so he moved his hand towards his stomach. He was surprised to feel something soft on top of him. His eyes shot open and when he saw what was causing the extra weight, his breathing stopped completely for a moment. He slowly became red and he didn't dare to blink. His hand was lying on top of a bundle of pink hair!

Was he still dreaming or something? This wouldn't be the first time for such a nice dream, but somehow he knew that he was awake already. The girl must have rolled in her sleep and ended up on top of him. The girl looked so peaceful nuzzled up on his body with a content smile on her face. To be honest he wouldn't mind waking up like this every day, but he knew that that would never happen. Soon the beauty would wake up and then she would hit him and walk away angry. He sighed, because he really wished that things would be different.

His dream was to be able to live a life without problems. He just wanted someone to acknowledge him, someone to love him. That was all he asked for. But that stupid fox in his belly needed to ruin that dream. Nobody would be able to love something like him. He was just the container of a monster. Who with enough brains would even think about loving him? Sighing, he grabbed her waist gently and he tried to roll over, so that he could place the girl next to him again.

But just as always luck wasn't on his side. The girl's breathing became faster and he could see her frown. The girl also grabbed his waist with a strength he didn't know she had and it was now impossible to lay her on her own mattress. Just his luck. Now he would end up with a few broken bones, when the girl would finally decide to wake up. And he knew that the pink haired girl on top of him was a heavy sleeper, so he figured that he would be in this situation for quite a while. Sighing, he held on her tight and he closed his eyes again. _'I might as well go back to sleep now as well. She'll hurt me when she wakes up and that'll be more than enough to wake me too. I just hope that she doesn't hit me too hard…'_

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"Yuki, how's everything going over there!" Ichigo called out. He was busy collecting firewood in order to make a fire. This would be their last breakfast here and he wanted to make it a good one. He knew that both Naruto and his daughter were fond of ramen, so he had bought some in the village before leaving.

The pink haired woman came walking towards him with a smile on her face. In her hand she was carrying some bottles with water. They were heading towards the cottage right away and they had heard something about a festival from the two kids, so they decided to go there as well. The only thing that they didn't know yet was whether or not to go together with the pink haired girl and number one hyperactive ninja. The two of them had grown so close in such a short time and it would only take a bit more time before they would have a son in law. Okay, that was a bit too fast, but the two of them looked to have a special bond already.

She put the bottles with water on the ground and sat down next to her husband. "I'm ready to go, dear. After breakfast we're ready to leave, well almost ready. Those two lazy kids are still sleeping. Can you believe it? It's almost eight already. And they were already sleeping when we returned from our walk. You think that they would have slept long enough about now. Should I wake the up?"

The man smiled and placed an arm around his wife. A sinister smirk came upon his face, before pulling the startled woman close to his face. "We can do that, but we can also let them sleep and continue what we were doing on our walk…"

The pink haired woman blushed and closed the gap between them. The kiss was hard, but gentle at the same time. They broke apart in need for air after a while. Yuki smiled and gave her man a finger flip on his forehead. "I would love that, dear. But we have to go if we still want to go to that festival. I'm going to wake the two of them up. Just make sure that the ramen is ready when I come back with them, because I'm planning to lure them with it."

Ichigo just had to smile. The woman he loved was soft and sweet on the outside, but she could be so evil sometimes. He was glad that she showed him her sweet side more often. He then picked up the wood he had collected and walked over to the camp. He placed the firewood on the ground and quickly looked around before smiling. He made some hand signs and whispered: "Katon goukakyuu no jutsu."

He blew and there was no longer air coming out of his mouth, but fire. The firewood started to burn and a smile came upon his face. He knew that he should never do this in front of his wife, because she would kill him for sure if she found out that he performed a ninjutsu. Sighing, he grabbed the cups of instant ramen and placed them above the fire. He was about to lie down when he suddenly heard a loud gasp. And it wasn't just any gasp. It was his pink haired wife!

Quickly looking around for enemies, he stood up. There seemed to be nobody around the area, so why did his wife gasp? His eyes locked on the pink hair of his wife and he ran towards her as fast as he could. When he came to a halt next to her, he gave her a questionable look. The woman had a dreamy look on her face and she was smiling. "What's wrong, Yuki?"

The woman just giggled and pointed to the tent in front of her. Raising an eyebrow, Ichigo took a few steps forward to look inside the tent. Now, what could be interesting enough to make her gasp like that? It was probably some kind of cute animal or something. He flapped away the entryway to the tent and was about to say something, when he saw it. A gasp escaped his mouth and he quickly backed out of the tent. Turning to his wife, he gave her a dumbfounded look. "Tell me that you're joking!"

The woman just shook her head and glanced inside one more time to make sure. Her daughter was lying on top of her team mate with a content look on her face. The girl had placed her head on his chest and her arms were wrapped around his waist. The boy had a smile on his face as well, but Yuki could see that he wasn't all too comfortable. His arms were around her waist and he seemed to hold her close. The pink haired woman figured that the girl had accidentally rolled on top of him in her sleep. Naruto, being the nice boy that he was, must have chosen to let her sleep.

A big smile came upon her face and the woman sighed. Turning to her husband, she could see that the man still couldn't believe what was going on. She placed her arms around his waist and pulled him close. "They look so cute together, don't they?"

The brown haired man shook his head and he quickly broke away from the pink haired woman. A frown was placed on his face and he pointed towards the two sleeping kids. "What do you mean cute. That boy has tricked my sweet little flower in sleeping with him! I should break his neck and feed his body to the bears around here! I will show him what happens with someone who touches my precious Sakura!"

He was about to enter the tent with a raised fist, when he suddenly got slapped in the face. He fell down because of the impact and brought on of his hands to the red place on his cheek. "Why did you do that, Yuki?!"

The pink haired woman glared at him and suddenly he didn't feel so brave anymore. He backed off when he saw the woman closing in on him and tried to run away, but she was too fast and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You were jumping to conclusions again, weren't you? Why are you blaming Naruto right away? You didn't know what happened. It could have been your daughter who initiated the action as well!"

His wife scared the shit out of him right now. He still tried to get away, but somehow his wife got stronger after becoming angry. He wanted to beg for his life, but the pink haired woman didn't let him. "And everything probably was an accident anyway. You know damn well that both of them wouldn't do something like this if they weren't sure of their feelings. If I remember well, we slept together when we weren't even fourteen! So why can't they sleep like that, eh! Give me one good reason!"

The woman finally dropped the man on the ground and waited for an answer while waiting for an answer. Ichigo didn't know how the woman's personality could change that drastically in a mere second. His daughter seemed to have the same ability and it scared him. Did it have something to do with the pink hair or something?

Brushing off his pants, he stood up and he gave his lover a pleading look. "Well, she is my daughter. I just don't want to lose her to another man, that's all. If she hooks up with that boy, then she will get more distant and I don't want that. I just want my little flower all for myself."

Yuki finally calmed down after hearing that. It wasn't like he didn't want his daughter to love. He was just overprotective and he didn't want to lose her as his daughter. She walked over to him with a sweet smile and hugged the man. "Sweetheart, our daughter is growing up. She isn't the little Sakura anymore. She's almost a grown woman now and she can make her own decisions. I still don't know why you're making such a fuss about this. I still think that this is an accident."

The man was touched by her words and let out a smile. He started to hug back and laid his head on her shoulder. The woman sighed and continued: "Even if she did hook up with the boy, you know that she would never forget you. You will always be her father and I will always be her mother. She may move out someday and she might visit not as often as we would like, but she will never forget us. You know her better than anyone, dear. Do you honestly believe that she would abandon you?"

Smiling, he tightened the grip on his wife. "Yeah, you're right. I was overreacting…"

The pink haired woman looked up and kissed her husband on the lips once again. Ichigo smiled before deepening the kiss. They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Yuki reluctantly broke the kiss. "And would you rather have your daughter on top of someone else? I think that Naruto is a fine young man and I'm sure that he's the right man for our girl."

The brown haired man scratched the back of his head, before nodding. "Yeah, they complement each other, don't you think. I've talked to the boy on the way here and from what I've heard; he truly loves her a lot. She is the brains, while he is the brute force. She is heaven and he is earth. They're both very energetic and I'm sure that they are the only one with that much spunk in them. And the most important part is that she seems to love him as well."

"That's the smart man that I remember." Yuki said with a smile on her face.

She was surprised when her husband started to frown after this. He glanced inside and looked at the sleeping boy. "There is one problem though…"

The pink haired woman sighed and knew exactly what the man meant. "The nine-tailed fox…"

Nodding, Ichigo turned to his wife. "He still hasn't told her about it. And I fear that the demon may drive them apart. The boy seems scared about what the Kyuubi can do. I can see it in his eyes. I already told him that I think that Sakura won't mind at all, but somehow he is too afraid to tell her…"

"Our daughter is smart enough to look past the obvious, but I can understand Naruto's point of view. Think about it. He has been alone for the better part of his life and a lot of people hate him because of the fox. His peers are the only ones who don't know and he wants to keep it this way. If they would hate him too, he would be all alone again. So I can understand…"

The brown haired man nodded and looked inside the tent once again. Sakura seemed to dream about something nice, because her smile was becoming greater and greater. This made the man smile. Somehow he had a feeling that everything would end well. He sighed and turned to his wife. "After the festival, I'll go talk to him about it. I don't want to ruin his day."

The pink haired woman nodded and grabbed her husband's hand. "Let's let them sleep for a little while longer, dear. Let's keep the ramen warm and make everything ready for departure. I want to leave as soon as possible. Those insects here are starting to bug me!"

Ichigo smiled, before kissing his wife on the cheek. "That must be, because you have the tastiest blood in the world. And I should know. I'm the same as these insects. I want to kiss you the whole day as well. That would be one advantage of Sakura moving out. We would have a lot of time to ourselves." He said the last part with a seductive tone in his voice.

Yuki giggled before lightly pushing him. "You pervert…"

The man grinned before walked forward. He was about to sit down when he heard her voice on more time. "And what did I tell you about using ninjutsu, sweetheart?"

'_What, she saw me! Shit!' _He quickly turned around and he was greeted by a fist.

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Yawning, Sakura slightly opened her eyes. She couldn't help but feeling really comfortable at the moment. Her mattress felt really soft today. And since when was her mattress orange? When she heard the sound of soft snoring very close to her ears, her eyes shot open. Blond hair, an orange shirt, whiskered cheeks…she was lying on top of Naruto!

A gasp escaped her mouth and she started to blush furiously. What the hell had happened? She tried to get up, but was surprised to find out that she couldn't move at all. The boy had wrapped his arms around her body and somehow he wasn't about to let go. Sighing, she laid her head back down on his chest. She freaked out just now, but it wasn't that bad. She actually liked the position they were in. She closed her eyes again and could hear his heartbeat. His heart was beating much faster than it was supposed to and it made her blush. She made her heart beat faster. Somehow it made her so happy.

She opened her eyes again and looked at his handsome face. She cursed the boy beneath her for sleeping. She wanted to drown in those blue eyes. She was surprised when the boy suddenly tightened his grip and started to say some things. She wasn't able to hear most of the words, but she was sure that she heard her name a few times. And she sure hoped that she was the reason for the smile on his face.

She cursed herself for looking to those lips. They seemed to be made to be kissed. Somehow her body started to move without her permission and her face closed in on his. She almost reached her treasure and she could hear her inner self freaking out. She was the same though. She could feel his breathing on her face and it made her shiver and moan. Her eyes widened. That moan wasn't supposed to get out.

When she saw that the boy's eyes started to open, she sighed. She had lost her chance. Shrugging, she looked at the bright side. At least she would be able to see his beautiful eyes again. She could see the shock in his eyes and he was about to let her go when she grabbed his arms. The boy gave her a very confused look and he was blushing like crazy. She knew that her cheeks were still red as well, but it didn't matter. "Just a few more minutes. I feel really comfortable right now…" She then gave the boy a warm smile.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. She really wanted to stay here with him. This was too good to be true. Blushing even more now, he nodded. "We should hurry though, Sakura-chan. It's pretty late already and I saw your parents outside the tent a while ago. They are probably waiting for us…"

The girl sighed and quickly rolled off the boy. She gave him a glare, before exiting the tent. "Just say it, if you don't like me on top of you, you bastard!"

Naruto just raised an eyebrow and he was extremely confused. "What did I do wrong now? I'll never understand girls…"

He yawned and exited the tent as well. A smile came upon his face when he smelled something really nice. Following the smell with his high sense of smell, he found the pink haired girl and her parents. "Do I smell what I think I smell?!"

Yuki smiled and offered the boy to sit down next to her. The boy did as she asked and sat in between Yuki and Sakura. He glanced at the pink haired girl and could see that the anger was long forgotten. A smile was once again adorning her face and this made him smile as well. Yuki gave him some instant ramen and one to her daughter as well. "Here you guys go! I heard that you like ramen even better than my daughter."

This caused the boy to look at his team mate. The pink haired girl quickly looked away with a blush on her face. Naruto gave her a confused look before tilting his head. "But you always said that you didn't like ramen, Sakura-chan…"

The girl giggled, before sighing and dropping her head. "I heard that Sasuke-kun wasn't very fond of ramen…"

Naruto completely understood. The girl didn't even have to finish her sentence. Sighing, he opened the instant ramen and smiled before blowing on the hot noodles. "But I don't care about that anymore. I don't want to act anymore. I just want to be myself now and this Sakura is actually quite fond of ramen!"

He turned to the girl and saw that she had already finished her breakfast. "What, how? I'm not even halfway there!"

"Should have looked. You were too busy with your own food." The girl replied with a grin on her face.

The boy pouted and continued eating. He was happy that the girl of his dreams was fond of his favourite food as well, but he wasn't happy with losing his title as the fastest ramen eater. He turned to her with a confident look in his face. "Next time I won't lose! And that's a promise!"

"You wish!" The girl replied with a confident smile of her own.

Finally finishing his food, he stood up and stretched a few times. "That was a nice nap! I feel really refreshed!"

"And I guess that my daughter has nothing to do with that…"

His eyes widened and he quickly turned to the source of the voice. The brown haired man was snickering. Sakura seemed just as embarrassed as the boy, because she turned a shade of red before walking over to her father. She hit him on the head and walked away angry. Ichigo was sure that he heard her mumble something resembling pervert. "I was just kidding…"

His comment fell on dead ears, because when he looked up he could see that his wife and Naruto were already gone as well. Sighing he stood up and he walked over to the bags. The kids just needed to get their tent ready and then they were able to go to the cottage again. Sitting down on some of the bags, he yawned. He had never expected his daughter to change so much during this vacation. It wasn't like he wasn't happy, but still. The pink haired girl had grown up so much lately and it was all thanks to that childish boy. Kind of ironic…

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Naruto finally got all of his stuff out of his tent and he sighed. All of his stuff was thrown around the tent. Must have been the pink haired girl, searching for her own stuff. He always thought that girls weren't sloppy, but she definitely was. He was broken out of his thoughts when Sakura's mother walked towards the tent. "Stand back, you two."

This earned the woman two confused looks. She just smirked and bucked. Pressing the button on the bottom of the tent, she quickly backed off. The tent started to become smaller and smaller and after a while it was just the same as when the came here. Naruto's and Sakura's eyes were in shock. The pink haired woman saw this too and smiled. "What's wrong? The tent wraps itself up if you press on this button."

Naruto remembered all the trouble he and Sakura went through setting up that stupid tent. He could still recall the moment that he was about to press that button, but the pink haired girl had stopped him and even hurt him in the process. He glanced over to the girl with a glare on his face. Sakura seemed to feel his eyes on her, because she became beef red at the moment.

Yuki just smiled and walked over to the brown haired man, while Naruto and Sakura began grabbing their stuff. Sakura was about to pick up her bag, when Naruto beat her to the punch. He put her backpack over his own and gave her a smile. The pink haired girl smiled and shook her head. He knew that she was able to carry it herself. Walking over to the boy, she gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek and then walked to her parents. Naruto almost fell down and became beef red once again. She had kissed him!

Naruto finally reached the rest after steadying his heartbeat and he didn't dare to look at his team mate at the moment. Ichigo saw the exchange and just had to grin. Young love was something to cherish. "Let's go!"

Everyone nodded and they started to walk back to the cottage. Sakura walked next to her mother and saw that it was pretty late already. How long had they stayed there! The festival was already going on and she didn't want to miss any of it. She still had to get ready and stuff as well and she wanted to look at her best today. "I'm going to ahead, alright mom? You know that I need my time to get ready."

Yuki smiled and nodded. "I figure that you're going to the festival with your 'friend'." She said the last word extra loud and Sakura knew what her mother meant. A blush came upon her face, but she nodded nonetheless.

She ran forward and came into step with Naruto. "The festival is already going on and I want to go there as fast as possible. Let's travel ninja-style! I'm sure that I'll be there faster than you!"

The boy smirked and turned to her with a confident look on his face. "You're on!" He jumped up the trees and started jumping from branch to branch. The pink haired girl giggled and followed after the boy. She should have known that he wouldn't wait for the sign to go. Some things just never changed…

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Yuki and Ichigo finally reached the cottage and opened the door. They took their time walking back and they were surprised to see the hyperactive boy sitting on the couch with a bored look on his face. He was wearing an orange shirt with some black dragons on it. It made him look very cool. Black short were under them with an orange dragon on the left pipe. They had never seen the boy so nicely dressed before.

They entered the room and sat down on the chairs. "How long have you been waiting already…"

"More than two hours now! Man, I just wished that she would hurry up already! I'm bored out of my mind!" Naruto replied with a pout.

Just at that moment the door to the bathroom opened. All eyes turned to the pink haired beauty that was standing before them. Naruto's jaw nearly reached the ground and his eyes were very wide. His cheeks were extremely red and a slight bit of blood was under his nose. Yuki saw this and quickly wiped the blood away.

Sakura was wearing the dress that Naruto had bought her and her hair was up in a bun. A few strays of hair were covering hanging loosely and it made her extremely beautiful. This was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. The girl walked forward and looked a bit nervous. Her cheeks were a slightly coloured as well. "Well, how do I look?"

The boy broke from his stupor and he gulped before looking her in the eyes. "You look…wow…I can't find the words for it. You look like an angel…no…even better!"

Sakura was really taken back by his comment and she had to restrain herself from jumping at the boy and kissing him right here and now. Her heart almost broke her ribs, because it was beating so fast. The boy in front of her looked so handsome. He had even tried to tame his hair by the looks of it. She was on the verge of getting a nosebleed and she quickly looked down. "That's so sweet! You look very handsome as well."

The boy grinned and stood up from the couch. He walked over to her and he was surprised by the way she smelled. She smelled like strawberries and it made her even more attractive. He hoped that the fox had nothing to do with this, but somehow he just wanted to cover her with kisses right now. He smiled and moved his face to her ear. "You smell very nice, Sakura-chan…"

He said it in an extremely seductive tone and Sakura had to keep herself from fainting. She just had to shiver and she couldn't think straight anymore. Images of Naruto were running through her head and she got a dreamy look on her face. She was broken out of her thoughts when she saw the boy wave his hand in front of her. "You alright, Sakura-chan? You kind of spaces out on me."

Nodding, the girl walked past the boy. Reaching her mother, she gave her a smile. "Well, we'll be going now."

Yuki nodded and embraced her daughter. "Just don't stay the whole night. We have to walk home tomorrow, so you'll have to get some sleep. Your father and I will come later, so maybe we'll see each other there. "

Nodding, the pink haired girl turned to her date for tonight. "What are you standing over there, Naruto? Am I that repulsive?" She said it in a playful voice.

The boy ran over to her and rubbed the back of his head. "Of course not!"

Sakura grinned and walked over to the door. She was surprised when the boy opened the door for her. He bowed and indicated for her to walk through. Sakura was taken back. So the boy could be a gentleman when he wanted to…

"Goodbye!" She shouted before exiting the cottage.

"Enjoy yourselves!" Yuki screamed back.

"Will do!" Naruto said before closing the door.

Ichigo walked over to his pink haired wife and he embraces her from behind. "She resembles the old you a lot with her hair up like that. It made me remember a lot of nice things. Now let's get ready for our own date. I can't wait anymore!"

Yuki sighed, before kissing her husband on the mouth. "Do you have two hours?"

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"Wow! It looks so funny over there!" Sakura yelled when she entered the village with Naruto scrolling right behind her.

The boy walked over to her and took in the sight. The small village was lit up, because it was already dark. There were stands everywhere and there were even parades going on. There were a lot of people visiting the festival. "Yeah, it sure looks great!"

The pink haired girl couldn't wait anymore and she turned to her date. The trip to the village had been a quiet one, because both of them were nervous around each other. This was their first date ever and it scared the shit out of them. She slightly tilted her head and she put a smile on her face. "What shall we do first?"

The boy seemed lost in thought before he grabbed something from the ground. It was some kind of flyer and a smile came upon his face after reading it. "There are a lot of parades going on right now, so we could watch those first. Maybe we can walk past the stands after that. They look pretty nice from the look of it and maybe we can get something to drink after that. Looks like there'll be fireworks at midnight. I can't wait!"

Smirking, the pink haired girl turned to the blonde. "Looks like you've got everything planned out already, hot stuff."

The comment made him blush and he was about to say something when the girl grabbed his hand. He was taken back by this and became even redder. He looked to Sakura and could see that she was pretty red too. The look in her emerald eyes was telling him that she was asking for permission. "Let's go, Naruto."

Naruto understood and tightened the grip on her hand to show her that he didn't mind at all. This earned him a beautiful smile from the pink haired girl. She then started to walk towards the busy streets, while dragging the boy with him. He was happy to see her so energetic.

It was extremely crowdie in the village, but it didn't matter to him. The girl was the only thing on his mind. He could see that she was enjoying herself and that was enough for him. She was looking everywhere with an unbelieving look on her face. She looked just like a little girl. There was a lot of nice music on the background as well and it made the festival even better.

The parades were pretty enjoyable. There were all kinds of things to see. There were people dancing, doing tricks and many more things. There were giant figures of dragons as well and he had to admit that it looked impressive. They continued to look at the parades for a long time until Naruto got enough of it. He pulled the girl away, much to her dismay, and walked towards the stands.

When the pink haired girl saw the stands, she became happy again. There were so many cute things to buy. Looking at all the stands with a smile on her face, she glanced over her shoulder to see what her date was doing. She was surprised to see him staring at an object at one of the stands. She followed his gaze and her eyes widened when she saw the beautiful necklace. It was a cherry blossom made of the most beautiful pink she had ever seen.

Naruto picked up the object, while giving the owner of the stand some money. He then turned to the pink haired girl with a smile on his face. "Turn around for me, will you?"

Sakura was really exited and did as he asked right away. The boy tied the necklace around her neck and then spun her around again. It looked perfect. The necklace made her even more stunning. It went so well with her dress. It was like they were made for each other.

The pink haired girl looked down and saw the beautiful necklace. "Wow, it's perfect! Thank you so much!" She embraced the boy and closed her eyes. A smile came upon her face when the boy did the same. They stayed like that for a few minutes, when someone broke them from their intimate moment.

"Well, look what we have here…"

They broke apart and turned to the source of the voice. Before them was standing none other then their other team mate, the raven haired boy. Naruto immediately felt a surge of jealousy. He started to frown, before turning to the boy. "Sasuke…"

Sakura certainly hadn't expected this. In front of her was standing the so called man of her dreams, but why wasn't she getting excited? Her heart didn't start beating faster and she didn't even blush after hearing his voice. Was this really the same Sasuke? "Hey, Sasuke-kun…"

Sakura looked the boy in the eyes, but she wasn't able to find an emotion or whatsoever. The boy nodded without even smiling. "Sakura…"

There was no emotion in his voice as well and it made her shiver. Not out of delight, but out of disgust. Had he always been like that? Was this really the same boy she had followed around for such a long time? She didn't know why, but she just couldn't believe that. Sasuke always gave her a happy feeling. When the boy would look at her, she would always end up getting butterflies in her stomach…just like she got them from Naruto's gaze now…

"So what are you doing here, Sasuke?" Naruto asked with disgust and surprise in his voice. He knew that the raven haired boy wasn't the type to go to festivals like this one.

The Uchiha shrugged before looking smirking. "I was just passing through the village. I have been training like crazy these last few days and I'm sure that I'm strong enough to beat him now!"

Sakura sighed. The boy was still only thinking about his revenge. He hadn't even looked at her once since his greeting, but somehow she didn't mind.

"It's our vacation, Sasuke. You should relax and enjoy yourself. There will be enough days to become stronger, you know. Just let loose and have fun…" Naruto said with a smile on his face.

The raven haired boy smiled, before shaking his head. "Forget about my training? Are you insane? I need to become stronger than everyone, because he is stronger than everyone as well. I don't want to lower myself to your level, idiot."

She didn't understand, but suddenly she felt really angry. Then it suddenly hit her. She didn't like the raven haired boy anymore. There was somebody else in her heart now. Turning to the boy with a scowl on her face, she gave him the scariest look he had ever seen. "Don't call him an idiot, Sasuke!"

Both boys were surprised by her outcry. Naruto turned to the girl and just gave her a dumbfounded look. He couldn't believe it. The girl had really stood up for him. And we're talking about Sasuke here…the love of her life. He just didn't know what to think anymore.

The Uchiha shook his head and huffed. "Whatever! I'm out of here. Enjoy yourself with that idiot over here…" He said and he started to walk away from the two of them.

"I will enjoy myself with Naruto here! Count on it!" Sakura yelled back.

The boy got out of sight and she turned to her other team mate. She was surprised to find a shocked look on his face. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

The boy shook his head and gave the girl a confused look. "I can't believe that you would stand up to Sasuke like that. I thought that you liked him."

Sakura smiled before taking his hand in her own. "I did like him in the past, but I finally realised that he isn't what I really want." She then squeezed his hand a bit and this startled the boy. "I now know who I really love…"

Naruto became beef red when she turned to face him with a sweet smile on her face. Had she really chosen him over the Uchiha prodigy!? Sweat began falling from his face and his cheeks were on fire. The girl closed in on him and it made him even more nervous. He suddenly needed to go real bad. He knew that he shouldn't have drunk all that water when he was waiting for her to get ready…

He quickly turned around. Looking around, he saw the public toilettes. "Hold that thought, I'll be right back!"

The boy took off and Sakura just had to smile. The boy was nervous and it made him as cute as ever when he looked like that. Sighing, she looked around for something to do in the meantime. Finding a mirror, she took a long look at herself, before fumbling a bit with her hair. She wanted to look extra good for her date.

'_**Looking sharp there!'**_

'_Yeah, I want to look at my best for him.'_

'_**Don't worry. You saw the look in his eyes. He's totally in love with you, girl.'**_

'_Well, he'd better be!'_

'_**I still can't believe that you got over that other handsome guy. I mean, Naruto is much better, but still I've got to say that I'm proud of you.'**_

'_Jeez, thanks…'_

'_**You're beginning to look more and more like me every day! Shannaro!'**_

'_What the hell are you talking about!'_

'_**Well, you're getting more confident…'**_

'_Naruto helped me to get more confidence, not you.'_

'_**Right…give him all the credit…Well, you did become more perverted.'**_

'_Did not!'_

'_**Don't give me that shit. I saw you looking at him. You nearly got a nosebleed! I got one too, so I don't blame you. But it proves that you're a pervert!'**_

'_Am not!'_

'_**Oh, Naruto's back and he isn't wearing his shirt!'**_

'_Where!!!' _

Sakura's inner self almost laughed her ass off, when she saw that the pink haired girl started to look around with widened eyes. _**'Haha, I was only kidding, you pervert!'**_

'_I hate you…'_

'_**Love you too!'**_

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"Aah, I needed that." Naruto said while exiting the building. Looking around, he tried to find his pink haired friend in the crowd. When he saw her, a smile came upon his face and he headed her way. The girl had really surprised him just now and he felt really good. It was like nothing could break his spirit now.

He was so lost in thoughts that he accidentally hit someone on the way and he knocked the man over. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he saw the man fall. Either he was drunk or he was extremely weak. He extended his hand to help the man up. "Are you okay, mister?"

The man had a tinge of red on his face. So he was drunk after all. He became confused when the man suddenly backed away with a terrified look on his face. Taking a few steps towards the man, he became even more confused when the man stood up with an angry expression on his face. "What are you doing here, you monster!"

Sakura heard the man scream and turned around. She was surprised to see that he was screaming at her date. She saw the downward look on his face and gasped. Getting angry, she headed towards the man. "Excuse me, but you have no right to call him that!"

"And just who are you supposed to be, miss?" The man said with a look of disgust in his eyes.

Sakura could smell the alcohol from his breath and it almost made her puke. Closing her nose with her fingers, she turned to the man. "I'm not going to tell you my name. But I'm not going to let you call my friend a monster!"

The man smirked. "I can say whatever I want! And I'm saying that he's a demon! He's going to kill everyone if we don't stop him!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! He's no demon!" She shouted back with anger in her voice. She just couldn't understand why someone would call the nicest boy in the world a demon…

Naruto was happy that she was standing up for him again, but it was no use. He grabbed her hand and started to drag her away. "Yeah, run away, you stupid fox boy!"

This confused the pink haired girl. Why did he call him a fox boy? She was broken out of her thoughts when the grip on her hand tightened. So the boy knew the answer, looking to his action. She broke free from his grip and walked back to the man. She wanted some answers. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and gave him an angry look. "Why are you saying these things!"

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the man grin. "So you want to know the truth, eh!"

"No, don't tell her!" Naruto almost pleaded.

The pink haired girl raised an eyebrow, before turning to her team mate. "Tell me what?"

The man laughed before turning to the girl "He doesn't want me to tell you that he is in fact the demon fox that destroyed Konoha fourteen years ago!"

"No!!" Naruto screamed while falling to his knees.

Sakura's eyes widened. "What…?"

The boy almost begged the man to stop now: "Please stop, please don't tell her!"

The man just smiled. "That boy is the container for the Kyuubi! The yondaime couldn't kill the beast, so he sealed it into this boy. Do you see now! He is carrying the most demonic creature in the world with him! He's a danger to us all!"

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe it at first, but then she started to put the pieces together. Naruto was born on the tenth of October. And that's the same date as when the Kyuubi attacked. The whiskers on his cheeks, the red chakra during his fight with Neji, the red eyes in the forest of death, the glares from the villagers. Somehow she just knew that it was true. Naruto was the container for the Kyuubi.

She turned around to find the boy, but was shocked to see that he wasn't there anymore. Looking around, she finally saw him running towards the exit of the village. "Naruto!"

She was about to run after him when she heard the man stand up. "Yeah, go follow that monster, you fool!"

Sakura couldn't take it anymore and hit the man in the face with all her strength. The man hit the ground hard and was out cold before he could even scream. "Don't ever; don't ever call him a monster again!" She then turned around to run after her friend.

Running as fast as she could, she looked around to find her friend. She was sure that she saw him run this way. This dress wasn't helping her. It was slowing her down a lot. She was about to catch her breath, when she saw something orange running up a big grassy hill, just outside the village. Sighing, she began to run again.

Reaching the area, she slowly walked up the hill with a nervous expression on her face. She didn't know what say to him. She had no idea that he had something like that inside of him. And she had never helped him. She even used to ignore him when she was younger. Cursing herself, she took another step. The boy was sitting on the top of the hill. She could hear the sound of sobbing. She had never heard the boy cry!

She ran to the boy and kneeled in front of him. She could see the tears falling from his eyes and it made her even sadder. "Naruto, please don't cry!"

The boy looked up and saw the worried expression in the girl's eyes. "Why are you here, Sakura-chan? You now know what I am. I understand that you hate me now…"

His eyes widened when the girl slapped him on the cheek. Turning to the girl with a shocked expression, he brought a hand to the red spot. "What do you think of me?! Do you think that I'm going to abandon you because of something stupid like that?!"

The boy looked down, before sighing. "Everyone else did it…"

The girl became awfully sad now and didn't know how to react. She lunged forward and embraced the boy with all her strength. Naruto was shocked. Wasn't she supposed to hate him now?

The pink haired girl started to cry on his shoulder, while almost crushing him. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep everything to yourself?"

The boy started to cry again and he hugged the girl back. "I was afraid that you were going to leave me. I don't want to go back to that loneliness again!"

The girl stopped hitting him, but the crying only got worse. "You baka! I could have helped you. I could have been there for you! And how could you even think that after everything that happened! You're the one who kept on praising me for my intelligence!"

Naruto's eyes widened and he pulled back. Looking her in the eyes, he gave her a confused look. "You don't hate me?"

The boy was rewarded with a hit on the head. "Of course not! I could never hate you…"

The tears came back again and he pulled the girl close to him again. Sakura gave in immediately and started to smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" The boy managed to scream out between sobs.

They just lied there in that position for more than five minutes, when the boy suddenly released her. He had stopped crying a long time ago and Sakura could see that he was really grateful. He rolled to his side, so that the pink haired girl rolled on the ground. Giving her a smile, he turned to the sky. "I would never have guessed…"

The pink haired girl raised a brow, before doing the same. "What?"

Before this vacation started, you hardly spoke to me and Sasuke was the only one in your heart. I was just a team mate and you liked to ignore me. But now you're lying here next to me. You even accepted the monster inside me and you even stood up for me against Sasuke. Never would have guessed that this vacation would turn out to be this good."

Sakura finally understood what he meant. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I never expected any of this to happen as well. I guess that I have my father to thank for this. If he hadn't brought you to our cottage, then all of this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have changed, I wouldn't have been happy, I wouldn't have met the real you…"

Smiling, Naruto looked her in the eyes. "Yeah, we really have to thank the old man, don't we…?"

Suddenly a green light went into the sky and it exploded into thousands of tiny lights. A smile came upon his face when he saw this. "Finally the fireworks are starting."

They were lying on the perfect spot to look at the fireworks. They were able to overlook the whole village from there and it gave the night an extra effect. The sky was coloured in all kinds of colours. He turned to see the look on Sakura's face. He couldn't help but smile when he saw her angelic face. And to think that she cared so much for him. He didn't know what he had done to deserve someone as her. He was broken out of his thoughts by a loud explosion.

The pink haired girl looked up in awe. She didn't know that it would be this pretty. "So pretty…"

Still looking at the pink haired girl, he smiled. "Yeah, so pretty…"

Sakura glanced to her side and saw that he was looking at her while saying that. Her cheeks became red and her heart started beating extremely fast. She couldn't take her eyes off him anymore. She once again got lost in the blue orbs of his and suddenly she didn't care that they were on a hill, she didn't care that the show in the sky was still going on, she didn't care about anything at the moment. There was only one person on her mind.

Feeling brave, she rolled on top of the boy with an honest smile on her face. The boy seemed startled. A blush came upon his face and she could see that he became nervous. Bringing a hand to his whiskered cheek, she started to caress it. This seemed to please the boy, because he started to purr. Giggling, she moved closer. "I never knew what love really was. I used to think that you had to like the boy and that would be enough. But now I know better. Love is something far greater…"

The boy slowly moved his head up and the gap became closer and closer. "There has to be a bond between two people. You always want to be with him, you always want to feel him, and you always want to kiss him…"

They were only inches apart now. She could feel his breathing on her lips and it made her shiver in pleasure. A smile came upon her face. "You always stand up for that person and you're willing to protect him with your life. His feeling are more important that your own and you when he hurts, it hurts you as well. You are connected with him…This is what love is. And I want to thank you for showing me that, Naruto…."

Pausing for a few seconds, she started to blush even more. "And now I want to show you something as well….I want to show you how much I love you…"

She closed the gap between the two of them and she brought her lips down on his. Both of their eyes closed and she brought her arms around his neck, while he put his arms around her waist. Their kiss was clumsy at first, but when Naruto brought one of his hands behind her head to add more pressure to this kiss, it became really passionate.

It was like their lips were made for each other. The lips moved with outmost accuracy and the kisses became more heated. Sakura brought her hands to Naruto's hair and grabbed it. The boy seemed to like it by the sounds of it, because she was sure that she could hear him moan between kisses. They continued kissing until they needed to break away for much needed air.

The pink haired girl was still hovering above her lover and she was looking down with a sweet expression on her face. Her breathing was shallow and she had trouble catching her breath. She felt like they had been kissing for an eternity, although she knew that it had only been a few minutes. Bringing one of her hands to her lips, she smiled softly.

"Wow…" Was all the boy beneath her was able to say.

The pink haired girl smiled, before bringing her hand to his cheek. She caressed it for a few seconds, causing the boy to moan. Feeling happy with her actions, she placed her forehead on his. "Yeah, you could say that again…"

The boy snickered. "Okay, then I'll say it again….wow!"

Laughing, she shook her head. "I didn't mean it, silly."

The boy cupped her face with his two hands, earning him a beautiful smile from the girl. "I know…so, time for round two?"

"I thought that you would never ask…" Sakura said with a smile on her face.

And their lips clashed together once again…

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**AN:** Argh!!!! What was I thinking?! I said that I was going to write shorter chapter and here I write on of almost 9000 words….what the hell is wrong with me. Well, I hope that you liked the chapter. Lots of emotions and fluff in this one. I think that this is the best chapter of the story and I hope that you like it as much as I do.

I hope that I didn't make sasuke seem like a bad guy. He's just set on killing his brother, so everything else is irrelevant.

The last two chapters will be very short. Day 9 will be their return to Konoha and day 10 will be something like an epilogue.

I hope that you guys review, because I want to know what you think about this chapter:D


	10. Day 9: Complete

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: I don't own naruto, but I do own a dog**

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**Day 9****: Complete **

Opening her eyes, Sakura could see that she was lying on her own bed. Glancing to her side, she could see that her boyfriend was lying next to her with a content look on his face. He had his arms wrapped around her waist and their legs were tangled with each other. She brought one of her hands to his cheek and she then gently caressed it. The boy didn't wake up, but he did let out a moan and a smile came upon his face as well.

The trip back home had been a great one. Especially because the only thing they had been doing on the way was kissing, kissing and even more kissing. She could still remember the annoyed expression on her father's face. He had tried to break them apart one time, but luckily for him her mother had stopped him. When it came to Naruto, she wasn't able to control her emotions very well.

After they had come back, they found out that her best friend Ino was throwing a party for the rookie genin. It seemed to be some kind of dance party, so they decided to go in their casual clothes. Sakura went in her dress while Naruto went in some jeans and an orange shirt. Even after hours of complaining, she couldn't talk the boy out of wearing something orange.

All of her friends had been surprised when they saw her walking in with Naruto beside her. She had told them everything and it caused quite a few reactions.

Her best friend started to scream like crazy, saying that she had Sasuke all for herself.

The hyuuga heiress, Hinata, gasped, before promptly fainting.

The dog boy, Kiba, caught the shy girl before grinning. He congratulated the two of them after that.

The weapon mistress, Tenten, started to scream and she congratulated the two of them with their relation.

The taijutsu expert, Lee, started to cry, saying that he would never stop loving the pink haired girl, before starting a speech about the springtime of youth.

The lazy chuunin, Shikamaru, said something resembling 'troublesome', before wishing them the best of luck.

The big boned boy, Chouji, almost choked on his food and it took Shikamaru and Ino to save him from his downfall.

Sasuke, Neji and Shino just shrugged. They didn't seem interested at all.

The rest of the night was spent with a lot of talking and dancing. A dreamy look came upon her face when she remembered her last dance with the whiskered boy. It began really innocent and harmless, but when they had started kissing, they had forgotten about the rest of the people in the room. It took her best friend and a loudspeaker to break them from their make-out session.

After that they Naruto had offered to walk her home. She had agreed and arrived at her home not long after that. But she had become selfish then. She had dragged the boy inside for another make-out session. It was like she had make up for years of ignorance…

She had then asked the boy to stay and her parents didn't seem to be against it. So here they were, together in her bed. They hadn't done anything perverted….yet.

And to think that nothing of this would have happened if they hadn't gone on vacation to that small cottage. She didn't even want to think where she would be now if all of this hadn't happened. Sighing she turned to the blond boy next to her. Smiling, she gave him a soft kiss on his forehead.

Summer was now officially her favourite time of the year.

She now finally realised why her parents wanted to return to that place every year. It all made sense now. Somehow love seemed to blossom around there. It was like magic. And she was sure that she would return to that place next year as well. But this time she would go with her team mate, her friend, her pillar of strength, her lover…

Looking at the sleeping form of the boy one more time, she smiled. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips for the hundredth time that day. Somehow the boy kissed back even in his sleep. They had done it so many times lately that it must have become a habit. Breaking the kiss, she lied down on his chest with a content look on her face. "Sweet dreams, my love…"

She didn't know what the next day would bring, but she was sure that she would get through everything the world would throw at her. Because she wasn't alone anymore and neither was he. They were one now and neither one of them would have be lonely again.

Finally she felt complete…

She couldn't wait for the next summer vacation. Next time she would be fifteen…Maybe it was about time to ask her mother what she had done with her father on that walk of theirs…

**_'Oh, I can't wait...'_**

_'Shut up!'_

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**AN:** Day 8 was kind of the last chapter. You could see this one as the conclusion. Day ten will be just for fun. I hope that you liked the story. I could have put better things in this chapter and the last one, but I just didn't have enough time…

I hope that you liked the chapter, although it was extremely short, but I'm sure that day 8 made up for it


	11. Day 10: The end is only the beginning

Here's the next chapter, guys. I hope that you like it.

"Hello": regular talking  
_'Hello'_: thinking  
'_**Hello'**_: Inner Sakura talking

**Disclaimer****: I don't own naruto, but I do every final fantasy game**

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**Day 10****: the end is only the beginning **

There was the sound of knocking and the godaime hokage let out a sigh. She still had a lot of work to do and wasn't in the mood for anything. She quickly put away her sake. Putting a serious look on her face, she turned to the door. "Enter!"

The door opened and immediately a smile came upon her face. "Well, if it isn't Ichigo!"

The man sighed before making a bow "Good morning, hokage-sama…"

The woman smiled before putting her elbows on the desk. She leaned her chin on the palms of her hands. "So, I heard from several people that Sakura and Naruto have grown quite close these last couple of days."

The man walked towards the window with a frown on his face. Sighing, he pointed towards the park. "Just look outside…"

The hokage stood up and looked outside. A smile came upon her face when she saw the couple walking hand in hand. The suddenly the pink haired girl stopped to give her boyfriend a passionate kiss on the mouth. The old woman had seen enough and she walked back to the desk. She grinned before turning to the brown haired man. "That means I win!"

Ichigo walked towards the pigtailed woman and handed her his wallet. "Yuki's going to kill me for this. I should have never let you trick me into betting with you…"

The busty blonde just smiled, while putting the wallet in her desk. "Then you should have betted on them getting together."

The man sighed, before shaking his head. "I didn't want to believe it, but I just couldn't stop them. And I think that I helped them more than I tried to stop them. Well, at least those two are happy. I'm going to get killed by my wife. You know how she can be…"

Tsunade grinned before standing up. "I feel so sorry for you. But if you could leave me alone right now. I still have a lot of work to do."

"It's fine. It's the final day of Sakura's vacation, so she wants to do something with the family. I need to hurry home…" Ichigo stood up and bowed, before turning around and exiting the room. "I'll get you back, Tsunade-sama, mark my words!"

The door closed and Tsunade sighed before sitting down again. Grabbing her sake, she let out a victorious smile. She had won the bet! This was certainly her day!

She was about to take a sip of her sake when it suddenly hit her. She had never won a bet before! It just couldn't be right! Looking outside, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Sighing, she sat down again. She was just overreacting. The smile returned to her face and she continued drinking her precious sake.

Just at that moment a certain Uchiha was heading towards the gate of the village with his backpack. He looked up and saw four strange individuals before him. He gave them a bored look, before turning his attention to the ground again. "Orochimaru-sama is waiting for you. Come with us!"

**The end**

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**AN: **So, my story fits in the canon storyline as well;) I hope that you liked the last chapter. There was almost no narusaku in it, but I thought that it was kind of funny and it makes my story fit in the canon storyline as well;) The only change now is that Naruto and Sakura are together:D

I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing this story. I love you all and I managed to finish this story because of you guys!

I hope that you will vote for my story on the H&E fan fiction contest.;)

Goodbye, but not farewell!


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